Winter's Wrath
by Sonata16
Summary: Love. Betrayal. Conspiracy. Shennanigans. And lots of Nightshade. That's what adventures in the Nevernever are made of. (This started as a little one piece for a friend that has grown into a seemingly endless story line...Hopefully others like it as well. :) ) (New Updates Every Other Saturday)
1. Chapter 1

**So…I never start stories at their actual beginning. I always start in the middle. So, welcome to the beginning of the middle of this fan fic! If you end up confused, sorry. :/ **

**Also, for anyone who has read the Iron Fey series (which I hope you have otherwise you don't need to be here) there are a couple characters that were killed off in the official series that are (currently) alive in this fan fic. Some will end up dead anyway, others will remain active participants. You don't like the changes, then I would recommend you look to an author who keeps with Julie Kagawa's official time/plot line. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Iron Fey characters, ideas or other copyrighted pieces belonging to Julie Kagawa. I was merely inspired by her literary genius and felt the nudge to promote it through this fan fiction for purely entertainment purposes.**

Catherine would never complain of cold again. Assuming, that was, if she ever made it out of Winter Territory in one solid, still breathing piece. As things were, with her injured leg bandaged so securely she was amazed she could still circulate blood, and with her access in and out of her current resting place even more limited by the fact that the Winter Prince's hunting wolf sat sentinel just beyond the door, she didn't see a very good chance of leaving the Unseelie Court anytime soon…

Heaving a sigh and resigning herself to lying back against the innumerable throw pillows and yanking the heavy quilts up to her chin, Catherine stared almost blindly out over the large expense of ice blue sheets and black quilts, her eyes drifting once over Demon's sleeping form as the Cait Sith lay curled comfortably at the foot of the bed, and frowned. She hadn't spoken to the cat since they'd arrived in Winter for the second time since he'd led her to the Nevernever and gotten trapped—_again_—and though she knew it was just as much her fault as Demon's that they were now virtually imprisoned in the Unseelie Court, she was feeling a little less than gracious to the cat. After all, the little fur ball had made some kind of deal with the eldest Winter Prince, Prince Sage, and though she didn't have the faintest idea what it was, she didn't like it.

Demon had given his word that he would assist her in finding out who her true father was. The Cait Sith that had sired her, rather than the human man she had thought to be her father for the past eighteen years, but now with her injured and he in the debt of the prince for not turning them both over to his more sadistic younger sibling, it seemed it would be a long time coming before they managed to get back on track to finding the fey who had fathered her. And it irked her beyond belief.

Heaving a deep sigh, she fisted her hands under the comforter, suppressing a shiver as another inevitable chill crept through the room as seemed commonplace in the palace, Catherine turned almost violently onto her side, her anger and frustration starting to build the more she thought things over, and regretted the sudden movement as it landed her bad leg hard against the edge of the mattress, causing her to squeal in pain and jerk upright, her hands going immediately to flutter helplessly against her throbbing ankle.

"Damn it," she hissed, resisting the urge to pound the mattress, lest she wake Demon, but that didn't seem to be a problem anymore…

"You're getting awfully rowdy over there," the Cait Sith said with a wide yawn, opening one yellow-green eye to contemplate her tiredly. "And there's no need to go cursing…"

"Shut up," she snapped at him, and then regretted saying it when both of the cat's eyes stretched wide with surprise at her brazenness. "Sorry," she mumbled, turning away with a small groan, raising her hands to press her palms against her eyes.

White spots danced across her vision.

"I'm tired," she muttered, "And sick of being here…and I'm kind of mad at you, to be honest."

"Oh?" Demon didn't sound in the least bit surprised as he rolled onto his stomach and stretched immensely, claws unsheathing briefly and pricking at the coverlets. "Do tell. What have I done to make you mad? Something bad, I'd imagine, since it seems to take forever to get the better of your temper. A trait no doubt handed to you by your father, I'd imagine…"

"You made a deal with that Prince," she sniped at him, lowering both hands and glaring at him, her emerald eyes burning with frustrated tears. "You promised to help me find my real father and now we're stuck here because 1: I'm injured, and 2: Because you're bound by your word to the Prince! And how do we know he isn't going to hand us over to his brother anyway?"

"Because he vowed he wouldn't turn us over," Demon said immediately, and his eyes were narrowed at Catherine as she sat there fighting sudden angry tears. "Fey are bound to their word, girl, and he is no different. He is fey. He will honor his vow to us so long as I carry out my end of the bargain. And I have every intention of doing so."

"And if he asks for you to hand me over for execution or imprisonment?" Catherine asked angrily, wiping furiously at her damp cheeks as the tears started to flow over. She didn't even know why she was crying…and she wished she could stop but the tears were becoming relentless.

"He won't," Demon said quietly, his eyes widening a fraction as he became witness to her pathetic display of waterworks, though he made no comment on them. "Our deal was that he could have whatever he asked for so long as you went unharmed and were released the moment you were well enough to leave the Unseelie Court. He will honor that vow or I am no longer bound to honor my end of the deal."

Catherine sniffed miserably, still wiping at the tears on her face and feeling ashamed. She knew all of this. Demon had told her since before he'd first taken her into the Nevernever, so she knew every word he spoke was as true as true could be, but for some reason she just didn't feel at ease, regardless of what he said. She didn't know what it was, other than perhaps knowing she was in such terrifyingly close proximity to the sadistic Prince Rowan while his brother sheltered her that made her so testy. After all, it was Rowan who had imprisoned her on her first unpleasant trip into Nevernever. And he'd been keen to do it again after she'd escaped but come back. Though how the bastard had discovered she'd returned was beyond her… She might have suspected Demon to be culprit, but she knew better than that. Demon had vowed his protection of her for whenever she stepped into the Nevernever, and he was bound to that oath.

So why couldn't she seem to get a grip on herself and just trust that Demon would come through for her? And why couldn't she believe that Prince Sage was really a good person and was earnestly trying to help her? It just didn't make sense to her why… But, then again, she was half human, and humans had an awful tendency to get overworked and stressed out over things they didn't entirely comprehend. And she was no closer to comprehending anything in the Nevernever than she was to understanding her Calculus II class in college…

"I just wish I could grasp it all," she mumbled, drawing her good leg up closer to her and dropping her forehead tiredly against her knee, wrapping her fragile arms around her shin and hugging it tightly like that would somehow anchor her. "It's just so much stuff to take in all at once, and you know I'm only human…"

"Half human," Demon corrected idly.

"You get the point, Demon," she snapped.

"Yes, I do, I apologize for that smart remark," the cat apologized quietly, dipping his head and watching her through slitted yellow-green eyes. "I understand what you are trying to say, girl, but at the same time, if you can't come to terms with what is happening here and now how can you have a hope of making it through the wyldwood to find your father?"

"I know," sighed Catherine, rubbing her forehead roughly against the icy coverlet, eyes closed tightly with small tears still dripping from her lashes. "I know…I'm trying, Demon, but…I've never been the strong person."

"Funny," Demon said complacently, "You seem pretty damn headstrong to me… Though, of course, that is just my opinion."

"You're not helping me at all," she grumbled at him, not lifting her head. "I'm trying to tell you I basically have no backbone and that being here is probably the worst and best thing I could have done to myself…"

"You want to find your father, don't you?" the Cait Sith asked, bending his head to lick at his chest with casual ease.

"Yes, I do," Catherine said helplessly, "But just because I want something doesn't mean I have the guts to go for it. If you've been watching me as long as you say have, I would've thought you'd have already seen hints of that in the mortal world."

"Don't get so uppity with me," Demon sniffed indignantly, pausing in the insistent washing of his forepaw to glare at her. "Long to you is entirely different from long to me. Your mind processes several years as a long time when to me it's like the passing of a season. And, all things aside, you are ludicrously difficult to read as a person. I'm lucky if I can predict your mood from day to day. Most humans are much easier to contemplate."

"I feel so special," Catherine sighed tiredly, not lifting her head, even when she felt Demon get to his feet and pad along towards her from the edge of the bed. "Not only am I a hybrid child, I'm supposedly too old by mortal standards to be able to see fey, _and _I'm a blank slate that you can't make heads or tails of."

"That would about sum it up," Demon agreed, sitting himself down at her feet and tilting his black head backwards to scrutinize her hidden face, though it didn't come as an easy thing. "And, while we're talking, would you mind bothering yourself to look me in the eye when I'm speaking? It's even more frustrating when I can't see you, you know."

"So sorry to inconvenience you," she grumbled in apology, though she compliantly lifted her head, pushing a shaky hand through her dark copper tresses so he could get a full view of her teary eyes and cold nipped nose and rosy cheeks.

"You look god awful," he informed her, his eyes raking up and down her face with a slightly disgusted expression.

She grimaced at him and might have been tempted to flick him right on his little pink nose if not for the fact that at the very moment when she would have reached down and let him have it, there was a loud, authoritative knock on the door, causing her to jump and Demon to turn his head, ears pricked alertly.

"It's the prince," he said after a moment of silence, and leapt lightly off the bed to make his way to the door. "I'll let him in…"

Catherine, suddenly very aware that she was stranded in a bed with only blankets and a not-so-conservative nightgown to cover her, hurriedly yanked the blankets up to her chin once more and shrank back against the headboard with a small groan of unease as Demon finally reached the door and rose up onto his hind legs to paw at the doorknob, which clicked as it came open.

If she'd had her way, Catherine would have disappeared into the blankets and everything else just to avoid the piercing, jade green gaze that settled so solidly on her face as the towering figure of Prince Sage, eldest Prince of the Winter Court, swept in through the door, his loyal gray wolf trailing close behind. But disappearing was not an option, even though she felt a flicker of glamour circle her as she peered hesitantly over the edges of the quilt at the intimidating and inhumanely beautiful face of the Prince as he stepped to the side to allow his wolf into the room before reaching back and carefully shutting the door behind him. And as the heavy wooden barricade swung closed with a solid click of finality, Catherine felt her heart do an uncomfortable somersault in her chest.

"Your Highness," Demon greeted the prince softly, leaping back up onto the bed and inclining his head respectfully.

Sage's eyes swept almost carelessly over the Cait Sith, but he returned a brief nod of recognition before returning those soul-seeing jade eyes to Catherine's face, which drained of color as he stepped deliberately around the bed to approach her. Feeling her stomach drop to ground zero in the pit of her stomach, she couldn't stop herself from retreating even more under the blankets, so it was nearly only her eyes that stared up in fear at the Winter Prince as he came to a steady halt just at the side of the bed, gazing back down with one eyebrow raised, and a flicker of amusement glowing in his eyes.

"Idiot," Demon muttered from the end of the bed, or at least that's what Catherine thought he said, but when she glanced at the Cait Sith it was to see him attentively washing his hind leg with little to no interest in her.

Sage gave a small cough, drawing her attention immediately back to him, and she nearly choked on her own alarm when she saw him settling himself quite comfortably on the edge of the bed, even going so far as to kick of his boots as the mattress dipped slightly beneath the added weight. He was still watching her attentively, but the amusement that had merely flickered before was now distinctly clear in his gaze as he eyed her expression. She couldn't see herself, obviously, but she highly suspected that she looked like a deer in the headlights. Could anyone expect less of her?

She was stranded in bed, and the heir to the Unseelie Court was getting cozy not even two feet from her! And if that wasn't bad enough, the guy looked like he could have made every male model on the face of the planet break down crying because he made them look like skinny little stick figure wannabe's. With a face like his, even the moon would have fallen straight out of the sky for him. And without even shedding his fashionable white pea coat she could see the faint rippling of defined muscles in his arms and back as he bent to pull his boot from his foot and set it aside with its twin before straightening up and turned to look at her once more.

To her indignation—and the faintness of her heart—his perfect lips curled in a deliberate smile.

"You could look less like I'm about to eat you, you know," he told her in his soft voice, his eyes fairly glowing with his laughter. "I've promised your warden that I won't cause you harm or let harm befall you while you're here and I stand by my word."

"I know," she feebly, and then wished she hadn't said anything as Sage cocked a jet black brow at her.

"Then why the pale faced expression of terror?" he asked her casually, propping himself on the mattress with one arm, further narrowing the distance between them to a scant foot. At least his face was farther off…she wasn't sure what she'd do if _that _particular part of him got within a foot of her…

"It's cold," she said lamely, hoping to get away with the slight bluff. It _was _cold, after all, but that wasn't at all the reason she was huddling under the comforters like a mole.

"Mm-hmm," said Sage thoughtfully, eyeing her with a not quite convinced expression on his gorgeous face, and heaved a small sigh, rolling his eyes. "Cat," he said, turning his attention briefly to Demon, who paused to glance up at the prince with a questioning gaze.

"Sire?" the Cait Sith said, lifting himself into a more regal sitting position, though he drew a paw over his ear to clean it.

"You have explained to the girl the rules of Nevernever, I would assume," Sage inquired casually, "That the fey are bound to their word?"

"I have, your majesty, yes," Demon conceded with a small nod, and an entirely cat-like look of amusement crept into his yellow-green gaze. "Though, I wish I could guarantee that the girl believed it. She has heard me repeat myself a thousand times over, but, as she is only human, I can't say that she believes me a thousand times over."

"I see," murmured the prince, glancing back at Catherine with a slightly weary expression, though he smiled that small smile of hilarity as he caught her eyes. "Then I suppose there is nothing for it. She does not trust me…"

"She does not trust your brother," Demon corrected, and Catherine felt a small twinge of annoyance that the Cait Sith hadn't even allowed her to speak her mind before butting in to speak for her. "I think knowing he is so near to her is putting her on edge."

"No, you don't say?" Catherine said icily, then groaned inwardly at her own stupidity as both cat and prince turned an appraising eye on her. Even Sage's wolf, sitting patiently in the corner, turned a questioning amber gaze on her. "Sorry," she muttered, glancing away immediately before she could embarrass herself further.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Demon asked in an almost incredulous voice, as though marveling at her idiocy.

"If you weren't," she began darkly, then stopped herself short as she considered nothing she said would endear Demon to her and she didn't really need him mad at her at this point.

"If I weren't what, girl?" Demon asked, unfortunately catching on to her muttered words. His ears went back slightly as she met his narrowed eyes across the bed, and his tail tip twitched in annoyance.

"Nothing," she muttered. "Just forget I said anything, Demon. I'm sorry…"

"Hmph," snorted the Cait Sith, lifting his nose at her and lashing his tail. "Ungrateful whelp…"

Alright, that was too much, thought Catherine, and the next second she'd thrown the covers down, baring her skin to the icy coldness of the room, but she was past caring as she glared down at Demon and snapped,

"Hey, I never asked you to bring me here! I never asked you to come in to my life and turn everything so ass backwards that I can't even make sense of myself anymore, and I had a pretty good idea of who I, as a person, was, until you came marching on in all high and mighty and important and told me I actually don't know jack about myself. And, might I remind you, you were the one who brought me to Nevernever to try looking for answers about me and getting me caught in the first place! So excuse me if I feel a little ungrateful right now, but you've been so iffy with me about every little thing I do wrong that it goes past hypocrisy if I'm not allowed to be even a little irked with you!"

The room fell into immediate silence following her little tirade, and the moment she'd gotten her breath back a few seconds later, she felt immediate and overbearing guilt and shame as she stared into Demon's wide eyes, never minding that Sage was staring slightly aghast at her. Groaning aloud, she buried her face in her hands, feeling like a total witch for no other reason than she'd lost her cool.

"I'm sorry, Demon," she apologized miserably. "Really…I'm just tired and confused and really, really out of my element here…I didn't mean to snap like that…"

No one spoke, and she felt her face flush hot with embarrassment as she imagined the way that all three fey were now staring at her. She felt even worse when she peeked through her fingers to see Demon's ears flat against his head, but not in anger. More like fear.

"Sorry," she mumbled again, pressing the heels of her hands hard against her eye sockets and wincing as they caused white stars to pop and wink across her vision. "This is just not a good day for me…"

"I don't blame you for that," Demon said suddenly, his gentle tone surprising her so much that she lifted her head to stare at the Cait Sith as he watched her calmly from his end of the bed. "You are stressed by everything that's going on, though, for a human, you are handling it extraordinarily well, and I realize half the fault of your dilemmas is through my own inability. I apologize."

And he bowed his dark head low so his whiskers grazed the bedspread while Catherine gaped at him, and Sage simply looked in amazement at the cat as though he'd never seen anything quite so interesting.

"Well, how unusual," the prince murmured softly in astonishment, his jade eyes still locked on Demon's bowed head. "I have never heard of a Cait Sith taking the blame for anything, let alone apologizing to a mortal."

Catherine felt a jolt of surprise at his words, as well as a surge of annoyance at the slightly condescending note that accompanied Sage's tone, as though, by apologizing to her, Demon was made weaker by it.

But before she could leap to the cat's defense, the prince had smiled as Demon raised his head slowly to meet the jade gaze head on with his own yellowish eyes, and Sage inclined his head.

"You have great pride about you, Cait Sith," he murmured. "Not many would think so, given the standing that is commonplace for your kind, but many also do not realize the dignity it takes to have the strength to take blame for one's actions."

"Hmph," snorted Demon. Averting his gaze as his ears swiveling back again and his tail twitching uncomfortably he muttered, "Just do not think you would get away with calling me out as anything less for my actions, prince."

"I would think of doing no such thing," Sage said in a soft but earnest voice, even as his wolf gave a low growl at the subtle threat that Demon had issued. Sage held a hand out to stay his companion, then glanced back at Catherine, who had felt relief until she felt his gaze upon her once more. "As for you, girl—" the prince began in his quiet voice, but Demon cut him off.

"Catherine," he said idly, and when Sage turned to raise an eyebrow at him he shrugged and said, "She does have a name, sire, and since I suspect we will both be here for quite some time I thought it best to let you know of it now rather than have her lose her patience again later. Though, it is quite difficult to get her quite so riled up."

"Stress, undoubtedly, as you said," Sage said with a small nod at the cat. "So, Catherine," he turned back to the girl with a politely inquisitive expression, but she immediately felt diminutive and vulnerable under his intense gaze and had to work hard to keep from looking away in embarrassment or from yanking the covers back up around herself like the child she felt herself to be.

"I was hoping we might have a short conversation on certain matters," Sage was saying, "Since I doubt I will have either the time or recollection to speak with you later."

"Okay," she said tentatively, uncertain of what was coming. She felt it must be important, given the Winter heir had taken it upon himself to give up whatever free time he might have otherwise had to come and talk to her about whatever they were getting ready to discuss. Especially if he believed he'd either forget later or wouldn't have the time if he _did _remember. "What can I help you with, your majesty?"

"Well, to first matters, you don't have to call me 'majesty'," the prince chuckled, smiling at her. "You are not a subject of the kingdom and therefore not under the restriction or guide of our laws. You may just call me Sage."

"…Right." Catherine glanced over at Demon, more confused than before, but the cat was not looking at her. He was washing his tail…typical. So she was on her own for now. Turning her gaze reluctantly back to Sage's, she swallowed the lump in her throat and prompted him, "Was there anything else?"

"Yes." He nodded slightly, and a small frown appeared on his handsome face. Tilting his head as though to better see her, his long ponytail sliding over his shoulder, he spoke slowly, as though carefully choosing his words, "The Cait Sith owes me a favor in return for saving your life and keeping you out of sight of my brother and mother, as well as the rest of the Unseelie Court. He has promised to pay it to me when I ask for it, and I expect him to keep his word. You are aware of this bargain, yes?"

Catherine nodded mutely. How could she not know? Demon had to remind her almost daily about the deal just to keep her from losing her mind over worrying whether or not the prince would come demanding a favor of her as well, like surrendering her first born child or something similarly outrageous.

"Now, what I wish to discuss with you is this," said Sage quietly, leaning forwards towards her so she felt the immediate urge to lean back, but the prince caught suddenly at her wrist, holding tightly, and she couldn't hope to escape, and as his face drew even nearer to hers, clearing the less-than-one-foot marker, she felt her heart slam into her ribcage and her stomach began turning in uncomfortable knots. The frosty jade eyes of the Winter prince bored into her as his stopped with his face a scant five inches from hers, solemn and unreadable, and for a heart stopping moment Catherine almost believed he might just lean in the remaining five inches and kiss her. Stupid thinking, of course…but there it was.

"I have kept you out of the eye of the court and those that would cause you harm," Sage murmured, his dark bangs falling into his eyes, creating enchanting shadows in the glowing jade depths that nearly robbed her both of breathing and of good sense. "That is my deal with the Cait Sith… However, I have done more than simply keep you hidden. I could easily have done so without risking bringing you into the castle and calling on my trusted healer to see to your injury, but I brought you into the stronghold of the Unseelie Court and have permitted you sanctuary here."

Catherine's stomach plummeted, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Demon freeze, mid-lick, and saw the glow of his luminous yellow eyes pin the Prince, though whatever the cat's expression, she couldn't currently tell as she couldn't tear her eyes from the fey before her. Her heart tapped out an unsteady rhythm of fear and excitement against her ribcage as she remained trapped in his gaze, and her mouth went dry as she realized what was coming. She owed him a favor. Some kind of bargain for letting her stay in the castle—in his _room_—and she was obliged to give him what he asked for, or else he could easily turn her day into the worst nightmare in two seconds.

She had been praying ever since coming here that she would never have to face a deal with a faery, least of all the Winter Prince, heir to Unseelie throne, but that prayer didn't seem to have gone over very well and she was very much feeling like she was facing death's door as she stared helplessly into the endless jade orbs before her. She couldn't do a thing to stop him, and sat silently as he took a short breath and said the words she'd been dreading,

"You owe me a favor, Catherine. Anything I ask you must give to me in exchange for the kindness I have extended to you."

Catherine's eyes sought Demon, and this time the Cait Sith met her gaze head-on, and his black fur was standing all on end, his yellow eyes enormous with shock and horror as he stared at her. He had apparently not foreseen this, though he could not have was beyond her. She had thought Cait Siths were supposed to be intelligent beyond reason, possibly even mind readers, but apparently Demon hadn't been clever enough to realize this one tiny flaw. Oddly enough, she wasn't angry with him for this one. It was her own stupidity as well that had kept her from insisting they be moved from the castle to an outside area nearby…She was just getting what she deserved was all.

Looking reluctantly back into Sage's glowing eyes, Catherine heaved a shaky sigh, curling her hands into fists—for an instant reminding her that the prince still had a firm grip on her wrist—and closed her eyes tightly for a moment to collect herself before saying in a subdued voice,

"And what would you ask of me in return?"

Mentally, she was preparing herself for the worst. Firstborn child: gone, her name: gone, a precious memory: gone, possibly her virtue: gone, an arm, leg, hand, wrist…

"Vow to me that once you have gone from this place I will never lay eyes on you again."

The solemn murmur caught her completely off guard, and her emerald eyes snapped open wide to stare in total disbelief back into Sage's neutral jade ones, almost identical hues with completely different expressions. It took Catherine a moment to realize that her mouth had also fallen open, and she hurried to shut it before she could look too foolish. Casting a frantic glance at Demon, she saw that the Cait Sith looked blissfully relieved as he looked at the Winter Prince, then turned his eyes on her, imploring her with his gaze alone—along with the tiniest of nods—to hurry up and accept the terms of the Prince's condition before he could change his mind to ask for something else.

"I," she stammered, looking back at Sage, who's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her. "I…of course. You'll never…never see me again. Deal?"

The last word was said meekly, as though she half expected him to immediately take back his word and demand something less pleasant. But he didn't. Rather, he drew back almost instantly, finally giving her room to breathe, released her wrist from his grasp and smiled softly in clear satisfaction.

"Deal," he agreed in his quiet voice, and rose from the bed, so quickly that she almost cringed away from his now towering figure. She kept forgetting how monstrously tall he was sometimes…at least compared to her…

"A moment, your majesty," Demon said as Sage made to pull on his boots. "There is one thing I would like to clarify in your bargain with the girl."

"Yes?" Sage turned to scrutinize Demon with narrowed eyes as his wolf rose from its corner and plodded up to his side, also eyeing the Cait Sith cautiously.

"You have made her vow that you shall never lay eyes on her again after we have left this place," Demon said slowly, looking contemplative, "And I only wish to confirm whether you meant never to lay eyes on her again in Winter territory or in all of Nevernever."

Why hadn't she been smart enough to consider that small but very crucial detail of the agreement? Catherine cringed inwardly as she realized it was because she'd been way too busy basking in the glory of Sage's face being so unbelievably close to hers.

While she considered her lowliness of obsessing, Sage contemplated Demon with a thoughtful gaze, one hand on his hip, the other hanging loosely by his side so his wolf bumped its large nose against it with a small whine. Sage gently batted the large canine away and sighed as he faced Demon.

"It would not be my place to say the girl could never be seen by me in the Nevernever," the prince said. "So, to the terms of our agreement, I am never to lay eyes on her in Winter again. She is not of this world, but it is not my place to cast her out of it. More importantly, she is not of this court, and I _do _have the authority to reject her from here."

"So, never let her be seen here by you again, yes?" Demon confirmed calmly, and Sage nodded. "Very well, your majesty, it will be done as soon as she is well enough to leave here."

"You should be warned of another thing, Cait Sith," Sage said then, his eyes darkening, "There are two possible ways for you and the girl to leave Tir Na Nog. Either, when she is well enough to travel on her own, the two of you may attempt your escape on your own time without my aid."

Catherine's mouth fell open, horrified. Not only was she hearing Sage say that he wouldn't aid them in escaping Winter Territory, which would leave them at risk for discovery by the very people they were trying to avoid, but it also sounded horribly like he was trying to bribe Demon into another contract. Looking over at Demon, she could see by the cat's expression that he knew exactly what she did, and he didn't look happy about it.

"Or," the prince continued softly, his tone even, "You may accept my aid once more in leaving Tir Na Nog…"

"And owe you another favor," Demon finished coldly, his eyes mere slits of yellow. "You seem awfully fond of collecting favors from me, Prince, despite your reputation for avoiding as many deals as you can—regardless of whether you are on the delivering or receiving end."

Sage smiled a humorless smile that turned Catherine's heart momentarily to ice.

"Not many of my dealings have been with a Cait Sith," Sage said, "And given your kinds' reputation for ringing up as many favors as possible, I only saw fit to return some of your own dealings so you might better understand it is not so wonderful when you are the one in debt of another."

"Consider the lesson well learned, highness," Demon practically hissed at the Ice Prince, his hackles bristling and his tail lashing. "Though I think the girl and I can manage fine on our own without your assistance. We have done it once before, and we can very well do it again."

Catherine wasn't entirely convinced on that, but said nothing to the contrary as Sage bowed his head to Demon.

"As you wish, cat," the sidhe murmured, "You and the girl are free to depart as soon as she is able to move about, and you shall do so without my aid."

"Peachy," growled Demon, tail still lashing irritably back and forth. "Now, if your majesty will grant pardon of me, I would like to rest, and I am sure the girl would as well, since we will need all of our strength for the journey out of Tir Na Nog."

"Of course," said Sage and swept a low bow to Demon. "I shall let you rest. Though the healer has since advised me this morning the girl will be in no state to move for another week, at the very least, and even by then she will only be capable of limping."

"We will manage," Demon said curtly, yellow eyes flashing dangerously. "Thank you, Majesty, for your consideration and care. I will await the time when you reign in your other two favors of me."

"Very well." And after beckoning to the massive grey wolf, Sage swept away from Catherine and Demon, and out the bedroom door, closing it quietly behind him, but with an almost ominous sense of finality, and Catherine couldn't help but think they wouldn't be seeing the Prince again.

"Cheek," grumbled Demon, clawing fretfully at the coverlet beneath his paws before circling and settling down with his tail over his nose.

"That seemed unusually caustic of him," Catherine commented uncertainly, not entirely sure if her observation was a stretch of her faulty knowledge or an accurate judgment of the Ice Prince.

"For anyone else, it would have been completely called for," Demon snorted from the foot of the bed, not opening his eyes. "But you are right. For Prince Sage I would say that was uncharacteristically cold of him, even for a prince of Tir Na Nog, the Winter land."

"He's probably as high strung as we are," Catherine suggested, glancing at the large black feline, "All things considered, he _is _putting his life on the line protecting us here."

The Cait Sith snorted again, sounding disbelieving.

"It wouldn't have been nearly half the risk if he'd stuck us in a cave on the border," he said waspishly, sounding both bored and annoyed at the same time. "He only brought us here because he knew it would put you or I in his favor. I'm just stunned he made you the one who owed him. I would have considered before now that he would collect on any favors if you owed them to him, especially given how he seems more than pleased to sweep them up from me. Perhaps he wanted to ensure that neither of us would consider returning to this territory after we'd gone."

"Couldn't you have made the deal with him to make sure we never came back and it would all be the same?" Catherine asked, a little disconcerted. She was suddenly not so sure why Sage had made her responsible for the deal of leaving Tir Na Nog for good.

"I could have, yes," Demon agreed with a mighty yawn, flashing white fangs. "But I suspect that he wouldn't have trusted me to keep you from returning if you wanted to."

"Why on earth would I even _want _to come back?" It was a serious question, too. She had never enjoyed the cold of Tir Na Nog, not from the moment she'd set foot in it, despite the ethereal beauty of the snow and ice, and especially not since it was home, sweet home to the very faery she was so keen to avoid: Prince Rowan. She didn't get why Sage had seemed so intense about making sure she vowed never to come back.

Demon seemed to be reading along the lines she was, except he seemed to have an answer as he said calmly,

"You can't have failed to notice the effect Sage has on you when he is around, and that's minus all of the glamour. All types of fey, whether from Summer or from Winter, are drawn to the beauty of Winter fey, especially the royalty. Despite the fact you are half Cait Sith and not so prone to being swayed by the beauty of others, your human half plays a bit of a troublesome part in all of that, and he was probably making certain you didn't come hunting for him if your human heritage got the better of you and led you to pining over him. As you also might have noticed, he doesn't make a habit of playing the lady's man."

Catherine had blushed furiously at the cat's mentioning of her blatant weakness and attraction to Sage, but as he continued speaking, she realized the ultimate truth in his words. Sure, she was no man hunter to go stalking some guy because he happened to be the best looking thing this side of the Milky Way, but Sage definitely had a powerful effect on her, and she could understand why seeing him again would not only be a bother to him, but also a danger. She and Demon were basically refugees from Summer and the Mortal Realm, and none too friendly with his brother and mother. He was already taking a huge risk keeping them there and allowing them to leave when they pleased. If they ended up coming back for whatever reason, it would put more than their lives into jeopardy.

"Well, it's done, then," she said finally, shrugging. "We'll leave in a week, and he'll never see us again. That was the deal."

"You mean he'll never see _you _again," Demon corrected her in a bored tone. "He'll still see me once he calls in those other favors."

A sudden realization hit Catherine at his words and she gasped. "That's why he didn't make you the one to agree to the contract!" she said in amazement. "He couldn't banish you if he has to call you back for favors!"

Demon blinked his large eyes once. "You know, you aren't quite as dim witted as I'd been leading myself to believe, girl," he told her, sounding impressed. "Very observant of you."

"Why didn't you notice that before?" she asked without stopping to think, then hitched her breath when Demon's ears went back immediately and his eyes narrowed.

"Probably because I have too much on my mind such as babysitting you without worrying about trifles like that," he growled quietly, then rolled himself over to face away from her, grumbling something about "cocky mortals" as he did.

Feeling slightly guilty over having upset Demon, Catherine sat there on the bed for a moment, not moving, chewing on her lower lip, then sighed as she realized there was really nothing else for her to do except to snuggle back down under the multiple layers of quilts and sheets, only realizing as she did so how cold she really was, and close her eyes. As she willed sleep onto her, knowing there was nothing better to spend time doing until someone came to deliver their nightly meal, she felt a sharp chill circle her wrist abruptly and jerked her hand up to her eyes, staring at it in alarm. There was nothing on her skin to suggest anything unusual had touched it or harmed her, but she still felt the unusual, radiating chill from her skin, even while underneath her blood seemed to increase in temperature until she felt her neck and cheeks grow hot as she stared stupidly at her hand. Only after a moment more of ogling her fair skinned wrist did she remember that it was the wrist that Sage had taken hold of to keep her from moving away, and felt her cheeks flush even more hotly with embarrassment as she fisted her hand.

Damned Winter prince, she thought irritably, turning over onto her other side, this time more careful so as not to upset her injured leg, and clamping her eyes firmly shut, trying to ignore the unusual tingling her wrist. It was a good thing he didn't make a habit of leaving Tir Na Nog, and especially not Nevernever, or he'd be a threat to every living female in the Mortal Realm, and a few choice males, as well.

Muttering incoherently to herself, Catherine eventually tired as she lay in the soft bed, in spite of the persistent bite of cold that remained in the room, and her eyes grew heavy and finally fell closed in sleep. Soon after that, the sounds of her steady breathing filled the otherwise silent room. All the while, Demon lay on the edge of the bed, his narrowed, yellow-green eyes fixed on Catherine's sleeping form, watching the steady rise and fall of the sheets as she quietly inhaled and exhaled. After a long, long time of watching her, he rose to his paws and padded slowly up to the head of the bed to stare down at her face as she drifted, fast asleep. He considered she looked much more fey-like in her sleep, noticing how her natural glamour seemed to seep off of her the more she dreamt, circulating through the air until it was almost dizzying, and once he saw the flicker of a pair of dark brown cat's ears atop her head as she rolled over, away from him.

There was no longer a doubt in his mind that this girl was, indeed, a descendant of a Cait Sith, though why he'd doubted it for so long was a wonder even to himself. Perhaps because it was so outrageously uncommon for a Cait Sith to not only assume human form, but also to join with a human at all. Whoever Catherine's sire was, he was either very powerful or very senile. Either way, Demon had already promised her he would discover her true heritage, and he was prepared to carry out on that contract. There was only a slight problem with the plans…one he had not had the foresight to predict. Ah, well, he thought, heaving a quiet sigh, padding his way down to the crook of Catherine's knees and settling himself there where it was warmest, curling his tail over his nose. Come the end of the week, that problem would hopefully no longer be a problem.


	2. Chapter 2

**Far, far away…in a distant part of the wyldwood…**

Three seconds…That's how long he had, three fucking seconds before she let him have it right where it mattered. Trinity wondered briefly if anyone had ever the guts to nail the infamous Robin Goodfellow right in his family jewels…She might have considered that his "Royal Iciness" Prince Ash, formerly of Tir Na Nog, currently of Iron Kingdom, might have had a go before now, except there was the conceivable problem that Ash, himself, was also a man—at least in name if nothing else—and she'd taken a grudging notice many years before now that men generally did not let other men have it right in the gonads. They seemed to have some kind of reservation about it, like it was some unspeakable horror that they dared not inflict on another male. And considering Ash would be the only other one ballsy enough to let Puck have it, she concluded that probably no one had ever dealt the fire haired fey such a low blow. Pity…she'd have to rectify that…at least if she could get him to stop pacing and humming…

"Puck," she snapped at last, glaring daggers at the faery as he finally paused to glance over in her direction, "Would you hold still for two seconds, please? You're driving me nuts! I don't even know what you're humming, for crying out loud, and we've been sitting here for the past hour and a half waiting for Ash and that rat's ass cat to get back here with news on Catherine! _I'm getting pissed off!_"

She stamped her foot against the ground as she half shouted the last words of her sentence, causing Puck to stare and Nikki to raise an eyebrow in surprise from her position leaning against a nearby tree. Somewhere close by, something made a disgruntled noise at the sudden commotion, but Trinity was past caring what kind of faery-folk she pissed off, and had angry eyes only for Puck as the Summer prankster eyed her almost cautiously, like he expected her to come off her seat and lunge for his throat, but when she kept her spot he glanced uncertainly over at Nikki, who met his gaze and flashed a wry smile and shrugged.

"I'd agree with her on being pissed about waiting forever and ever," the girl said idly, her dark brown eyes glinting with amusement at Puck's uneasy expression, "Because I am. But I know we can't really do anything without Grimalkin and Ash and Meghan, because I don't know jack about this place right now and I'm not about to get myself lost looking for Catherine, because that would be even less helpful than sitting here waiting. But I'd advise you to stop humming and pacing at least, or Tri will make you regret it."

"A guy can't express his boredom around here anymore," muttered Puck, looking a little put out as he allowed himself to fall into a seated position on the ground, picking up a leaf and idly twirling it between his fingers. "And, Trinity, I get you're just raring to go and find Catherine and save her from the horror that is Tir Na Nog, trust me, I've experienced such pains as yours, but unless you want to end up lost, eaten or dismembered—though not necessarily in that order—we just need to stay put for now. Sorry."

He added the last bit as though to amend for his uselessness, but Trinity never lifted her bitter glare from his face, and he eventually resigned himself to ignoring her as he realized nothing he said would make her feel better or any less malevolent towards him. Instead, he sighed heavily, flicking the leaf into the air and watching it turn from green to yellow to orange to red and then back again as it floated in the air in front of him. Nikki watched with rapt fascination, though when Trinity glanced over at her friend to see just how the girl could be so calm about the whole ordeal it was to see with some grim satisfaction that Nikki's foot was tapping rapidly against the ground; a clear sign of her anxiety. So, she wasn't the only one who was getting wound up about the wait…good.

"Look, I know we can't do anything right now," Trinity said, annoyed but trying to keep her temper this time, knowing it would get her nowhere, "But couldn't we at least talk about battle plans or something? Infiltration and retreat?"

The look Puck gave her, with his emerald eyes stretched as wide as wide could be suggested that she might just as well have offered the idea of swimming in a kelpie-infested lake stark-naked. Nikki didn't look quite as shocked, given she knew Trinity's tendency towards action rather than benign leisure, especially when one of her friends was in danger or some kind of upheaval, but she couldn't pretend she wasn't a little surprised that Trinity was being so gung-ho about the whole thing. The way the girl put it made it sound like they were storming a fortress. She supposed in some aspects they were, but did the girl have to make it sound so horribly war-like?

"Uh…much as I hate to be the one to tell you this, chick," Puck said slowly, giving Trinity a slow smirk, "It doesn't matter if you make ten thousand fool proof battle plans. Once you're in Tir Na Nog, all bets are off. That aside, we're hardly the ones in a position to be making such plans. We'll have to leave that to the little ice princeling, since it's former place of residence."

"I wish you would stop referring to me as 'ice princeling', Goodfellow," came a bored, slightly annoyed voice then, and the tall, imposing figure of Ash melted into being from behind a tree just to Puck's five o'clock. His eyes glittered like mercury as he fixed a glare on the fiery haired faery. "I haven't been related to the Winter Court for ages now, you know that."

"Doesn't stop you from giving everyone the cold shoulder, though, does it?" inquired Puck with a taunting little smile thrown over his shoulder at the Iron Prince.

"Ha ha, you're so funny," said Ash with a grimace. "Really, Goodfellow, you could do so much better than that pathetic little jibe."

"Aw, but I don't want to make you cry," said Puck with an overdramatic pout. "I'd feel so ashamed of myself for picking on little kids, and Meghan would get all mad and do Faery-knows-what to me. Not to mention we need you to infiltrate Tir Na Nog, so that kind of puts a damper on my fun since we need you physically and emotionally whole to get us there and back."

"I'm sure you're just crying inside for not being able to torment me," said the prince dryly, rolling his silvery eyes at the sky overhead, arms folded over his chest, though a small smirk played across his lips.

"My heart is like a broken dam," said Puck dramatically, throwing himself back so he was sprawled across the tree stump, one hand to his forehead, the other stretching out towards Ash almost imploringly, "With no plug to fill the gaping hole within. It sobs endlessly…oh, woe is me…!"

It would have been a great act, if not for the huge grin spreading across Puck's face as he opened eye to look up at the prince, who looked caught between amusement and chagrin as he reached out with a foot and shoved the summer faery off of his perch. Luckily for Puck, he rolled and landed in a cat-like crouch on the ground and straightened up, tongue extended in Ash's direction as he danced out of reach of another kick from the Iron Prince.

"Alright, alright, knock it off," snapped Trinity, beginning to lose her patience, even though Nikki was hard put to keep from snickering as Puck pirouetted through the air, hanging suspended for a second longer than was normal, before dropping to her side and grinning. "We've got work to do!"

"Right little ray of sunshine, isn't she?" muttered Puck, leaning back against the tree with Nikki and making a face behind Trinity's back. He was lucky the girl didn't bother herself to turn around, even though she twitched as she heard him.

"Easy there, Goodfellow, or you'll get the sharp end of the stick when she comes after you and I'm not saving you," Nikki warned him, though she was grinning hugely as she looked up with amusement at Puck.

"You wouldn't?" gasped Puck, a hand going to his heart, looking absolutely stricken.

"Nope," chimed Nikki, smirking.

"Like hell you wouldn't," her companion snorted, disbelieving as he leaned back into the tree again and gave her a light nudge with his elbow. "You don't know how to have fun without me. You'd die of boredom by this time tomorrow if not sooner."

"Focus, please!" Trinity turned a glare on the two of them, realizing that while she'd been rallying in Ash, as well as Grim and Meghan—who had just returned—her friend and Puck had been laughing it up. Did they not take this seriously anymore? "Guys, come on!" she said, half desperate, half furious as she turned around to stare at Nikki and Puck. "Catherine is in trouble! Doesn't that bother you?!"

"Of course it does, Tri," Nikki said in a soothing voice, realizing her friend was teetering dangerously close to hysteria, and pushed off of the tree to approach the girl, hands out in a peaceful gesture. "You know how much Cat means to me. We've been best friends for years! I want to rescue her as much as you do, but I also know that getting super hyped up about this and not stopping to consider everything isn't going to help her, and much as I want to lose my mind with worrying right now, I can't afford to do that because it sure as hell won't get her out of Tir Na Nog any faster. Besides, she's Cat. If she has to endure, she will."

Trinity didn't look entirely convinced, and Nikki felt a flare of annoyance then. She knew Trinity didn't quite have the conviction in Catherine's endurance that Nikki did, and really Nikki couldn't blame her in the least. Catherine was a delicate soul, but she also had her mother's iron will, and would hold out as long as she could if necessary. And though Nikki was just as panicked and stressed as Trinity was about her friend's safety and wellbeing, she had to remember one small glimmer of hope: Catherine had gotten into the Nevernever, then back out, then back in. Not only was she being guided by someone, but she was also part fey. She belonged in Nevernever as much as Nikki and Trinity did, and that meant she would be a thousand times safer than if she were merely human. She could survive until they got to her.

"Cat may be a bit of a patsy, I know," Nikki said, speaking to Trinity in a low voice, "But you also have to remember she is one of the most stubborn people we've ever met. And she doesn't go down without a fight."

Trinity's cerulean eyes flickered between uncertainty and hope, and Nikki went on earnestly,

"She got out once, Tri, you've got to remember that. If she got out once, who are we to say she couldn't do it again? Hell, we might get there again and she's already hopped ship and is relaxing comfortably back at home! Then we can be annoyed at her for slipping out when we had a huge rescue operation going."

Trinity's mouth curved slightly in a hesitant smile, but when she met Nikki's blazing eyes, full of determination and eagerness, she couldn't stop herself from beaming. Nicolette was right. Catherine was stubborn as could be when she wanted to, and she _had _managed to get out of Tir Na Nog and the Nevernever once before. And she could probably do it again if she went for it. Still, Trinity felt that nagging worry in the back of her mind, and a frown reappeared on her face.

"Still," she mumbled uneasily, "We need to hurry, just in case she's hurt and needs us."

"Well, duh, we need to hurry," said Puck dryly, rolling his eyes and flashing his trademark grin. "Why do you think the princeling, her highness and the Cait Sith did three days' work in less than three hours?"

Trinity turned her head around to stare with enormous blue eyes at the faery, who was looking amused, but unconcerned as he flicked one eyebrow up at her.

"Say what?" Tri asked in a dumbfounded voice.

"All the information they got," Puck explained casually, "All the work they just went off to do, like finding out which is the best trod to go to Tir Na Nog, and the best place to get into the Court, and the most likely place for Catherine to be locked up. That normally takes a few days to gather info like that. Even with the influence they've got working for them. Even for me, that's impressive that they've got it done in a few hours."

Nikki felt her mouth unhinge a little, and she wasn't quite sure if she should be rushing to believe what Puck was telling her, until she remembered something he'd told her on their first trip into the Nevernever.

"_Faeries can't tell lies," Puck said idly, turning an apple over and over in his hands with disinterest. "You might think of it like a glitch in our system, but, really, there's no point in lying when you're in Faery. It's just kind of unnecessary to risk a reputation over something stupid like 'who took the cookie?', you know? Sure, we can leave out the truth but we can't flat out lie, either."_

"Well, damn," muttered Nikki, her mahogany eyes wide in stunned amazement as she gaped at Ash, Meghan and Grim, as though seeing them in a new light. "Thanks a ton for that, then. I'll never be impatient with you guys again!"

"You were to begin with?" Meghan asked, looking slightly amused.

"Well, yeah, a little," Nikki admitted, shrugging. "An hour is a long time for me."

"Tell me about it," grumbled Trinity, but no one paid her comment any mind.

"Well, it is just a matter of speeding up the normal processes of things," Grimalkin said in his bored voice, lowering his head to lick at his shoulder. "Nothing too troubling."

"I don't want to hear that out of you, Grim," Meghan said, a little irritably, as she turned a dark glare on the Cait Sith. "You had a hell of a time getting those assets of yours to drop favors, even though they owe you."

Grimalkin ignored her, completely unperturbed, and continued dutifully washing his paws, eyes almost closed as he peered up at Puck.

"So," the Cait Sith said, drawing a paw across his muzzle, "We found the proper trod to get in and out of Tir Na Nog, and the prince here remembers a distinct part of the court's palace that usually remains unprotected."

"Usually?" Trinity didn't like the use of that word in Grim's sentence and flashed a wary look in the cat's direction. "What do you mean 'usually'?"

She directed the question at Ash, and met his silvery gaze with her bright blue one, her eyes narrowed almost menacingly, though he didn't seem in the least bit threatened or put off by her basilisk glare as he raised and lowered a lean shoulder in a shrug.

"It's a very old part of the palace," he explained calmly, "Located in the very back near the wine cellars. It was left behind by an old attack on the palace very long ago. Mab never found it even after making sure every other part of the castle was sealed, and it isn't a very advantageous opening in any case if you don't know what you're doing or where it leads to, but all the times I would use that opening to get back into the court with notice it was only ever guarded once. But it wasn't actually the opening itself being guarded, just the wine cellars next to it. No one but myself and one other person in the court knows about it."

"And who is that other person, if you don't mind my asking?" Nikki questioned him uneasily. She knew one person couldn't do much, but if that one person had enough standing in the Unseelie court, that one could turn into ten, or fifty, or a hundred other people ready to attack them if they tried to breach the Winter palace.

And what made her even more uncomfortable than considering that possibility was the way Ash twitched uneasily and wouldn't look her or anyone else in the eye as he rested his chin atop Meghan's head, an arm curled around her waist and didn't speak.

"Ash?" Meghan glanced up with bright eyes towards her prince, her brow furrowing in slight concern. "What's wrong? Who's the other person?"

Ash was quiet for a moment longer, but that moment was enough time to put both Nikki and Trinity on edge, and even Puck had stopped looking so carefree as he frowned at the prince, arms over his chest. Even Grim had paused in the washing of his tail to glance up at the stonily silent prince; his eyes narrowed amber slits of curiosity.

"Come on, Prince," Puck urged Ash in a low voice. "If we're about to take a dive into a shit pile on this mission, I'd like to know how bad it stinks and how deep it is before I go headfirst. Who's the other person who knows about your little entrance?"

Ash glanced over at his rival, mercury eyes dark and narrowed, and heaved a deep sigh, his arm tightening briefly around Meghan, before he lifted his head and murmured,

"Sage."

There was a long silence, then Puck breathed out a relieved whistle that had Nikki and Trinity turning on him with identical expressions of shock.

"Well, that's not half as bad as I thought," the jokester said, grinning broadly. "I thought you were going to say something like a troll, or your other ass of a brother—what's his face again?"

"Rowan?" prompted Meghan dryly, eyebrows raised at Puck.

"Yeah, that bastard," Puck said without much interest, nodding his head, even though he was still looking at Ash. "So, we just have to make sure your biggest big brother doesn't find us out. No biggie."

"That's a biggie, Goodfellow," Ash said with a bite to his voice. "Sage may not be anywhere near as sadistic or violent as Rowan, but he follows Mab's rules to the letter and one of those rules is that no Summer fey is granted passage into the court without explicit permission granted by her. And if they do enter without permission, they usually don't enter breathing."

Nikki felt a lump in her throat and had to swallow hard before she choked on it.

"Sage can give permission can't he?" Puck asked, still unconcerned despite how pale Nikki had gone. "He's next in line for the throne, so why doesn't he get a say? Besides, you're his brother. Sure, you're not exactly in great standing with your mommy and all the rest of the court, but he likes you enough, doesn't he?"

"It doesn't matter if he does or not," Ash said, shaking his head. "Summer aren't permitted in, and even if I could convince him not to kill you all, there's no way I could get him to let you in. And if found out what we were up to, I doubt he'd let me in, either. If Catherine is a prisoner in Winter, it's only safe to assume that her guard is Sage or Rowan's Thornguards."

"So, in short," Puck said with a click of his tongue, looking irritated, "We don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the palace if we happen to run into your dear brother, and even less of a chance if he happens to be the one guarding Catherine. That's what you're telling me, yes?"

"Basically," agreed the prince with a small nod, his expression grim.

"So we just have to get around Sage," Nikki said, though she didn't sound as assured of herself as she might have wished as she said it. "Is he a good fighter?"

"Fair," Ash said. "Not quite the same level as myself, but it's not meant to be his specialty to fight."

"Then what _is _his specialty?" Trinity asked, feeling slightly nauseous as she imagined going up against someone of Ash's fighting caliber. She'd already seen the prince fight; she didn't think she'd stand much of a chance against his brother, even if he happened to be on a level down from his sibling.

"Tracking," Ash replied. "By himself, he's already excellent at it, but he also has his familiar with him."

"You mean that gigantic wolf that was always following him around?" Meghan asked in a tone that indicated she'd rather not see the canine, and the expression of alarm that crossed her face clued Nikki in that a run in with the eldest prince's familiar was a less than welcome experience.

"Yes." Again, Ash nodded. "Bane. He never leaves Sage's side, and he is even better at tracking than Sage, though that's to be expected."

"Of course it is," said Trinity bitterly. "He's a wolf. He's supposed to be good at tracking. So, even if we get past Sage to get Catherine, and even if we can outfight him, we can't outmaneuver him."

"No," agreed the prince with a frown. "Sage can track anything from anywhere in the Nevernever, even outside of Tir Na Nog. But inside of our territory, he is even better. We would have to get your friend out without him noticing at all and clear the border between Winter Territory and Summer before he could get on our trail. Even then, he might follow us and try to bring her back if she's a prisoner of Mab's."

"Fucking spectacular," muttered Nikki, feeling her stomach turning in knots so that she had to put a hand to her gut and press down just to get the nauseating feeling to subside a little. "Just great!"

"Now, now, don't be so negative," said Puck with a small laugh, throwing an arm around her shoulders and rapping the top of her head with his knuckles. "You forget, I'm a master at distractions. And since I'm assuming that the wee wolfie gets his tracking prowess from his nose, all we've got to do is throw a couple deterrents his way and make our grand escape."

"And what if your assumption is dead wrong?" asked Nikki bluntly, narrowing her dark eyes up at him, trying to ignore the little flip her stomach did when she met his glinting emerald gaze.

"Puh-lease," snorted Puck, rolling those bright eyes in relaxed annoyance, "You act like you've never heard of me before, chick, despite the fact you keep telling your favorite star of a Midsummer Night's Dream happens to be yours truly."

"Just because you happen to be a legend in and of yourself doesn't mean you're totally fool proof, Goodfellow," Ash said in a weary kind of voice, as though he was far too used to this kind of speech to really have faith in it anymore, or any kind of feeling for that matter. And when Nikki glanced over at the Prince it was to see him rolling his eyes in resignation while Meghan just frowned at Puck.

Clearly, neither of the Iron royalty were very convinced of Puck's abilities, and Puck noticed.

"You shame me, the both of you," he said in mock indignance, one hand on his hip while the other still hung across Nikki's shoulders. "You really have lost all faith in my abilities, haven't you?"

"Not that we've lost faith in your abilities," Meghan disagreed, still frowning as she shook her head, letting rays of sunshine flicker off the white blond streaks of her hair, "Just that we also happen to have faith in Sage's abilities as a tracker."

Puck made a snorting sound and looked away, pouting.

"Talk about a put down," he muttered. "They're rooting for the eldest princeling over me!"

"You haven't had to evade Sage before, Goodfellow," Ash said in a low voice, his tone cautioning. "Trust me, he's not your ordinary sidhe. I may be able to outfight him, and Rowan may be able to out strategize him, but no one can outrun him, even without Bane beside him. Even if he gave you a day's head start or more, he'd find you in less time than it took for you to get away no matter how many detours you took. It's what he was bred to do."

The way the prince said it, with such a solemn note to his voice, made Nikki even more uneasy about infiltrating the Winter court, though she'd never go so far to say that she was any less deterred from rescuing Catherine, but it also made her consider something.

"Has Sage ever been forced to track you before, Ash?" she asked slowly, though not entirely sure why she asked in the first place.

It was just something in his face. Something that said he'd had to have witnessed firsthand the kind of tracking power Sage had, especially if he could say with such certainty that Sage was as lethal by himself as he was with his familiar by his side. And judging by the way Ash's eyes darkened until they were almost black when she questioned him only further confirmed her thoughts, especially when the former winter prince deliberately looked away from her, his face an almost unreadable mask, though she could detect a glimmer of something like anger in the prince's eyes as he looked down at his feet.

"Once," he said at last, his tone subdued. "Needless to say, I soon realized how stupid I'd been to think that just because I was the better hunter and fighter out of the three of us didn't mean I was the smartest or most adept in any other field."

"Why on earth was Sage tracking you?" Meghan asked him, sounding horrified. "This wasn't recently, was it? When you were first exiled from Winter?"

"No, no," Ash sighed, shaking his head in resignation. "This was ages ago, when I was in something like rebellion. Goodfellow would remember it…it wasn't a good time for me."

Nikki glanced over at Puck as the prince made a gesture towards the Summer prankster, and was a little alarmed to see Puck's face set in a grim fashion, and shadows flickering in the depths of his normally exuberant eyes. It chilled her blood a little to see Puck looking so uncharacteristically somber, and she might have questioned him immediately on the subject that had made him act in such a way, but something made her bite down on her tongue and stop halfway to opening her mouth. She hadn't known Puck very long, but she knew enough to realize that if she didn't know something about him, it was because he didn't want her to know, and she wasn't stupid enough to go about disrespecting his desire to keep his life a secret. Everyone had secrets, after all.

But back to the matter at hand. Turning back to Ash, she frowned and asked,

"So, how long did it take him to find you?"

Ash gave a dark smile. "Less than twenty-four hours," he said coldly, and snorted in disgust, though whether at his own foolishness in thinking he could outrun his brother or at his brother Nikki wasn't sure. "I ran away in the dead of night, while and the rest of the palace was asleep, but I'm thinking that someone alerted him immediately after seeing me leave, though I thought I'd been clever enough to cloak myself so as not to be seen."

"Where did you try to run to?" Trinity asked, also frowning. "Didn't you know he'd find you in Tir Na Nog?"

"I did," agreed Ash, looking drawn. "So I was aiming for Summer's territory, or at least the border to hide somewhere in between before making another escape, but it was stupid. I took only a couple of hours to rest in a den a few miles before the border, thinking I'd outrun the searchers, but right when I left the den, thinking I had a clear shot, he was standing outside, leaning against one of the trees nearby, with Bane beside him, and from the snow that had gathered on him and Bane, they'd been there for some time; just waiting for me to show myself."

He smiled ruefully at the memory and shook his head in annoyance.

"I was beyond furious with him," he reminisced quietly, "I ranted at him for a good half hour and he just stood there and took it without saying a word, then when I'd finished he stood up, walked over, grabbed me by my hood and started dragging me all the way back to the palace, saying I'd be lucky if Mab didn't lock me in one of the towers for being so blatantly stupid, though he promised not to tell her how close I'd gotten to Summer's territory. In the end, Mab summed my escapade up to childish rebellion and wrote it off as inconsequential. I thought once more about running off about a week after that, but the night I decided to go out, I didn't get past the outer walls before Sage came out in his pajamas and grabbed me by my ear and dragged me back inside. I eventually learned not even to bother. And after a while he learned not to bother himself if I went off on my own, once I'd come of age, in any case."

Nikki had been taking everything with dead seriousness up until the point when Ash mentioned his brother coming out into the snowy courtyard of the Unseelie Court in his pajamas, and when the image of a man looking similar to Ash appeared in her mind, stalking across a snow blanketed courtyard, dressed in nothing but a set of horrible flannel pajamas, she had to hurry to stifle a snicker. It didn't go unnoticed however, for when she glanced up to see if anyone had caught sight of her, she met Puck's eye and saw him grinning broadly at her, his eyes sharing her humor.

Ash had also noticed they seemed to find hilarity in his story, but he didn't acknowledge it, and he didn't smile as he finished,

"So, in a nutshell, it's suicidal to let yourself get caught by Sage. Our best chance is to infiltrate the palace when he isn't around and get out before he can come back and here what's going on, and by then we should have managed to get far enough away to possibly cross into Summer Territory, or even take a trod back into the Mortal Realm."

"Great plan, your Iciness," Puck said in a mockingly congratulatory voice, smirking at Ash and sweeping a short bow in the prince's direction. "But we still have one small trouble."

"And what would that be?" Ash asked tiredly, as though he rather wished Puck would just shut up but didn't have the energy in himself to say so.

"We don't know where the chick is in the great big palace," Puck pointed out.

"We've narrowed the field down to two places she would be kept if she is a prisoner," Ash said dully, and held up a hand to list them on two fingers, "The towers and the underground dungeons, each of which are accessible after we get into the castle through the opening I mentioned. The only difficulty is that the towers are on the east side of the castle, and the dungeons on the west. We'll be entering from the south side of the castle, in the back, so we'll be between the two. We'll have to separate into teams in order to cover them quickly enough to get in and out without being detected."

"Ah, marvelous," snorted Puck, making a show of glowering. "Splitting up. Just what I wanted to do in enemy territory."

"You have a better idea, Goodfellow?" snapped Ash, apparently short on patience with the jokester, who put up his hands in surrender as he faced the glaring ice prince.

"Just one," Puck admitted, and glanced at Grimalkin, who was attentively watching a grasshopper creeping along the ground at his paws. "Oi, Grim, think you could cover one part of the castle while the rest of us cover the other part?"

"You want to send Grim by himself?" asked Trinity, sounding stunned, and uncertain.

The Cait Sith's ears twitched at her tone, and he lifted his yellow gaze from the little insect at his paws to fix the half-fey with a narrow eyed look of boredom and slight annoyance.

"I am not so incapable as you might like to believe, human," he said, flicking his tail as he straightened up into a sitting position. "I can easily check whichever of the two areas left open while the rest of you flounder about like fools on the opposing side of the castle."

"Hey, now," said Puck in annoyance, casting a sharp eye at the cat. "What makes you think we'll get caught?"

"Did I say such a thing?" Grimalkin asked with a yawn, flashing a glimpse of a vibrantly pink tongue.

"No, but you inferred it," Trinity said coldly, also annoyed with the cat.

"I am simply suggesting that if you do not split into teams as the prince has suggested, you are more liable to attract the attention of the castle's occupants," the feline told her smoothly, swishing his tail around to cover his paws as he eyed her thoughtfully. "Though if you do not think it will cause problems, I have no objection to going alone to whichever part of the castle I am required to."

"Of course you're not," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "Because you're getting a huge favor out of this, aren't you?"

Grimalkin chose to ignore that statement and rasped his tongue across one paw before drawing it over his ear.

"Furball," muttered Trinity.

"But he has a point," Nikki murmured softly, though she didn't look at all comfortable saying it, and looked even less encouraged when Puck swiveled his red haired head around to gape at her. "Grim can go anywhere without being seen, even if he's with other people. But if you stick the five of us together and try getting to one side of the castle without being seen and then back out again, the chances are seriously slim that we'll go without getting someone's notice, and, like Ash said, that's the very last thing we need if we're going to get Cat out of there."

"Fair point," Puck agreed, though he sounded a little reluctant to so easily side with her on the matter, since it meant admitting Grim had made an excellent observation and he was already loathe to give the cat more credit and favors than he already had. "Though, there is just another problem…"

"Where do you keep coming up with these issues?" demanded Meghan, sounding more than a little frustrated as she pinned Puck with a glare.

"Well, I've got to consider what other people don't, don't I?" Puck said innocently, turning his nose up slightly. "Especially since neither you or the princeling managed to remember that it's not just the five of us and Grim going into Tir Na Nog on a suicide mission."

"What?" Nikki gaped. "There are more people coming with us?"

She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or terrified at the idea of being responsible for even more recruits coming along with them. It was bad enough in her own mind that she had to worry about Puck or Trinity getting hurt. Or Catherine, if they totally flunked out on their infiltration.

"Just a few extra helpers," Meghan said, her tone reassuring as she smiled a little uncertainly at Nikki, who was gaping at Puck, who was wearing an expression like he'd just sucked on a lemon slice as he stood with his hands behind his head, eyeing the Iron Queen with obvious displeasure. "Mine and Ash's right hand followers."

"Joy," said Puck sarcastically, scoffing. "So that makes us a merry band of…what? Twenty people?"

"Eight, Goodfellow, don't over exaggerate," Ash said tersely. "Like we have more than one right hand each."

"Apparently you do, considering you've got the one you were born with and the ones you've hired for this little trip," said his rival in a slightly scornful tone.

"Quit it," muttered Nikki, giving Puck a meaningful look and elbowing him hard in the ribs so he coughed and staggered back a little. "Just be glad we're getting more backup."

"Don't act like you're happy about this, chick," Puck muttered back, leaning forward to speak right in her ear as he massaged his now sore ribs. "You're just as ungrateful about having to look out for more people as I am, so don't play cute just to make friends."

He winced as he pressed a little harder on the place where she'd elbowed him and pouted at her.

"And that really hurt, you know," he told her in a wounded voice.

"Be glad I didn't do it harder," she grumbled under her breath. He grimaced at her, but there was laughter in his eyes.

"So, since we're on the subject," said Trinity, trying her best to sound in control of her anxiety, though it was plain on her face that she was getting stressed again, "Who all is coming with us? I mean, who are your chosen guys, or girls, as the case may be?"

"Tertius and Glitch," Meghan answered before Ash could open his mouth. "Tertius is Ash's right hand and Glitch is mine."

"And when will the two merry men be joining us?" inquired Puck, leaning into a nearby try and looking all of a sudden bored.

"They've been here the whole time," Ash said impatiently.

"Oh, splendid," said Puck. "So, you mind calling them out to say hello rather than lurking up in the wings like a couple of brownies?"

Ash's glare could have withered an entire field of wildflowers as he leveled his steely eyes at his rival, but didn't say anything to add to his already evident irritation and instead waved a hand towards the tree from which he'd stepped out from behind earlier. Immediately, two figures were standing there, shoulder to shoulder behind the Iron Queen and Prince, clad in gleaming suits of armor that glittered harshly in the light of the summer sun. The two were about equal in height, though one seemed slightly taller than the other, closer to Ash's height. They both had the visors of their helmets pulled down, but at a small glance from Meghan they lifted their hands to remove the heavy metal blinders, instead putting them under their arms.

Trinity looked between the two knights, her gaze fixing almost immediately on the taller of the two, who stood directly behind Ash, and felt her mouth drop open in disbelief as she found herself staring directly into the identical face of Ash himself. From the silvery eyes to the jet black shock of hair atop his head, and the fair skinned complexion. Even the stonily blank expression was almost identical to the one that Ash seemed to favor when he had nothing more to say. And Trinity, for one moment in her life, found she couldn't think of a single thing to say, or do, other than to stare stupidly at the Iron knight as he eyed her with cautious interest from his position behind Ash.

"What the _hell_?" muttered Nikki, also aghast as she ogled the Iron fey standing at attention behind his Prince, though Ash's doppelganger never once looked in her direction.

"This is Tertius," Meghan said, sensing there was a good amount of explaining to do judging by the looks on Trinity's and Nikki's faces. "He is Ash's right hand man and one of our generals."

Tertius swept a low bow to both Nikki and Trinity, though his ghostly silver eyes remained firmly fixed on Trinity's stunned face and wide blue eyes.

"There any particular reason that he looks just like the prince?" asked Nikki curiously, resisting the insane urge to drop a curtsy in return to Tertius's bow.

"He was created by the old Iron King, Machina," Ash explained. "Meghan defeated him long ago and after we managed to break the hold of the False Iron King in the Iron Kingdom Tertius was free to do as he pleased. He chose to serve Meghan and became a knight of our court."

"Ah," said Nikki, not sure what else she _could _say. It was just so startling how much alike Ash and Tertius looked…she'd probably never tell them apart if they ever traded spots, even as a joke, though, judging by the solemn look on Tertius's face, he wasn't one for making jests. Another thing he and Ash seemed to have in common with each other.

"So…" Nikki now turned her attention to the second knight, who was surveying the small group before him with shimmering violet eyes and a slightly cocky expression as he stood more lax than his partner knight behind Meghan. "Who is this, then?"

"Glitch," the knight introduced himself with a dramatic bow towards her, then lifted his head to flash her a smirk that was so Puck-worthy that she stared, "Right hand of her royal Highness, the Iron Queen, and lieutenant of her majesty's army. So, in short, I work for the Queen, and then for Tertius in my time off."

"Sounds fun," Nikki said vaguely, eyeing the Iron fey cautiously. She wasn't sure if she trusted the mischievous gleam in his violet eyes, but then Meghan turned a steely eye on her right hand man and he grinned apologetically.

"Behave," Meghan told him darkly. "I mean it, Glitch."

"Yes, your highness," the Iron fey said regally, bowing his head to his queen.

Nikki was momentarily bewildered at this small interaction, then she heard a disgruntled mutter behind her, and felt the weight of Puck's arm as he dropped it firmly over her shoulders as he had earlier, but when she glanced up at him, expecting to see him grinning down at her, it was instead to find him pinning Glitch with such a mistrustful and warning stare that she had to take a moment to comprehend he was seriously aggravated—for whatever reason—with the Iron knight.

"What's up with that look?" she asked Puck in an undertone, eyebrows shooting up.

"What look?" he muttered without looking at her, still glowering at Glitch, who was looking distinctly amused to see the Summer fey giving him such a stare down.

"That look," Nikki said, reaching up to jab him in the cheek. "That one, right there."

"Ow!" he complained, swatting at her hand and leaning away, though he didn't remove his arm from her shoulders. "What in the name of all things good are you doing to my face, woman?!"

"Showing you the look you're giving that poor guy," Nikki informed him, frowning up at the Summer fey, still trying insistently to poke his cheek again, though he kept batting at her hand and maneuvering his face out of the way of her targeted area.

"I got the point, alright, don't go jabbing my eye out! I need it!" Puck said, now seizing her one hand and using the other to spin her away so her back was to his chest and she couldn't reach back to poke him. "Christ, woman…was that really necessary? My cheek has gone numb you poked it so hard!"

"You are such a little crybaby, you know that?" Trinity said idly from a little ways off, looking faintly amused, though her eyes kept wandering back from the tussling couple to Tertius, her heart doing a silly little flutter every time she caught him looking right back at her with those unblinking silver eyes.

"The hell with it, I'll complain if I want," Puck said indignantly, still pinning Nikki's hands as she squirmed in his grip, trying to turn to get at his face again, "That freaking _hurt_!"

"You were glaring at him for no reason," Nikki retorted.

"I can glare at whoever I damn well please, thanks so much," Puck chided at her, sticking his tongue out in a very childish manner.

"And here I thought they wanted to hurry up and get on with the hunt," Grimalkin mused idly to himself, still perched atop his little rock, eyeing the bickering Summer fey with a slightly amused expression.

"Ah, damn, that's right!" gasped Nikki, turning so rapidly in Puck's arms that the red headed fey lost his grip on her and was sent sprawling backwards as she knocked him aside with one fell swing of her arm, landing hard among the leaf debris and dirt with a small "oof!" as the air left his lungs. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

"I'm getting too damn old for this shit," Puck griped from the ground, not even bothering to heave himself up again and just laying in the dirt with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring half heartedly up at Nikki through narrowed emerald eyes as she hovered anxiously over him. "A little warning next time would be greatly appreciated if you're going to knock me on my ass, chickadee."

"Like she has the time to warn you when we've better things to be doing, Goodfellow," Ash said with a derisive snort and a smirk aimed at his rival, who looked nothing short of mutinous as the prince continued, "All that aside, you completely deserved that."

"The hell I did," snapped Puck, propping himself up on his muddied elbows to level a glare at the prince. "That was totally uncalled for!"

"I thought we were trying to rescue a certain special someone," Grimalkin yawned, "Or are we going to sit about for the next few hours until nighttime to go gallivanting off into Tir Na Nog? Which, I might add, is not the best idea if you like having your body in one piece."

"He's right," said Ash immediately, turning away from Puck's spiteful look to address the rest of the small group. "Tir Na Nog is dangerous enough by day. By night it's almost tenfold that. We need to get moving if we're going to start out today."

"Then let's go!" said Trinity immediately, finally tearing her eyes from Tertius's to stare eagerly at Ash. "I've been saying it from the beginning! We've got to get moving!"

"Sheesh, would you at least mind taking a few deep breaths first, before you keel over?" asked Puck idly from the ground, even as he levered himself up into a sitting position to dust off his sleeves and torso. "The last thing we need if we're going to go spearheading our way into Winter Territory is a deadweight on our hands, and that's precisely what you'll be if you don't stop hyperventilating."

"Would you just shut up?" Tri said in total exasperation and annoyance, feeling that increasingly familiar longing to just nail the Summer Fey right where it would maim him most. Unfortunately, that required time they currently didn't have as Ash turned to address his two knights on the run down of what was about to take place, and that took less than a few seconds as the two sentinels nodded obediently with every word the prince spoke.

"Right," Ash said, wheeling back around with a grim expression, his hand tangling immediately with Meghan's as he strode forward to stand in front of Nikki and Trinity. "The last thing we need to decide is who gets into what teams and which side of the castle to take once we get to it."

"It would be unwise to place the two humans in the same group," Grimalkin advised lazily from his stony seat. "It would be twice the anxiety and excitement with less to tone it down and keep them in place."

"Who asked you?" griped Trinity, feeling insulted.

"No one needed to ask, as everyone present aside from the spoken of were thinking the exact same thing," the cat said in his infuriatingly bored manner, his expression completely dull as he glanced in her direction. "If the two of you are put in the same group that means you will most likely get hiked up on the other's eagerness and it will turn into chaos. Plus, it makes better sense for each of you to be in a separate group to better recognize any signs of your friend if we stumble across a trail."

Nikki felt like she was starting to become the only one who saw reason in Grimalkin's words, though it was probably because she was more easily able to brush off his tactless words. It wasn't like he was deliberately insulting them—okay, maybe he was—but he was also stating clean facts. And those facts were that if she and Trinity stayed together once they got to the Winter Court things would probably unravel faster than they could imagine. And he was also right in stating that she and Trinity were probably the only ones who could accurately determine if Catherine had been in the area they were going to search. It only made sense to split them up for both of those reasons.

Trinity had also realized the truth in the Caith Sith's words, but she still didn't like the way he was acting, though it couldn't really be helped. She was quickly learning that there was no real point expecting decency or kind words from a cat. They were too damned cocky and straight forward to sugar coat things.

"Alright, fine," she said impatiently, drumming her fingers against her thigh, glaring at Grimalkin. "Then what do you think the groups should be?"

"Me?" Grimalkin's expression was one of mild surprise.

"Yes, you," snapped Trinity. "You seem to know more than all of us, so you pick who goes where."

"I'd rather not."

Trinity could have wrung the cat's skinny neck, but Nikki seemed ready to beat her to it by that point.

"Alright, I get you're smart as hell, but seriously, Grimalkin?" the dark haired girl asked in disbelief, staring at the cat. "If you're not going to be seriously helpful, shut up."

Grimalkin's eyes narrowed at Nikki as she spoke, but he didn't speak a word, and instead turned his head away to contemplate a large spider's web dangling close to his head. Puck grinned broadly up at Nikki from his crouched position on the ground and knocked the back of his hand against her leg to get her attention. When she glanced down in surprise, he gave her the thumbs up and winked.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, slightly annoyed.

"Congratulating on shutting up a Cait Sith," he told her jovially, hopping to his feet and knocking her on the side of the head as was his usual manner. "Takes a lot to do that, really. I've known his kind for centuries and I still can't get it quite right."

"It takes skill," Ash agreed casually. "But let's save that chat for later. For now, I think it fair that you divide the groups, Goodfellow, much as it pains me to say so."

"Me?" Now it was Puck's turn to look surprised as he rounded on the prince. "Seriously? Why?"

"You know those two better than I do at this point," Ash said with a lame shrug. "And you know Meghan and I and Tertius and Glitch just as well. If anyone is best suited to divvy up groups, it's you."

Puck looked like he'd just been sucker punched, and it took him a full minute to recover. And after he'd finally managed to close his gaping mouth he narrowed his emerald eyes suspiciously at Ash, who raised a delicate eyebrow.

"What?" the prince asked wearily.

"Did you really just give me a compliment?" Puck demanded, hands on his hips. "Vague though it might have been was that seriously a compliment that just came out of your mouth?"

Ash's lips quirked in an almost smirk, and he shook his head. "If I say 'yes' will it make you hurry up?"

Puck grinned hugely and let out a laugh. "Well I'll be damned, you like me after all, princeling. I'm touched."

"Just shut up and pick teams, Goodfellow, before you ruin the moment," Ash advised him, rolling his eyes as he curved an arm around Meghan, who was looking caught between amused and irritated as Puck chortled to himself and turned to Nikki and Trinity.

"Let's see then," the Summer fey said, clapping his hands together and peering thoughtfully at each of the people standing in the clearing very closely. "Well, since we can't have the two of you together, as the fur ball so kindly pointed out, you two will be the beginnings of the separate groups."

And with that he leaned forward and pushed firmly on Trinity's and Nikki's arms, causing them to take a step away from each other before Puck could cause them to fall over.

"You could have just asked us to move, you know," Trinity told him waspishly as he turned on his heel and marched over to where Glitch and Tertius stood at attention.

"You, sir," Puck said, completely ignoring Trinity as he pointed at Tertius, "I'd like you to pair up with our lovely noble lady over there."

He jerked a thumb at Tri without looking back, and Tertius followed the gesture until he locked eyes with Trinity, who felt her stomach temporarily dissolve. But right when Tertius would have made to step towards her, Puck threw out a hand to stop him.

"Wait, I take that back!" he said sharply, and instead steered Tertius right towards Nikki, who looked a little alarmed as she was made to stand next to Ash's doppelganger. "You'll be here, sir, my bad."

He then turned to Glitch while Trinity glared silently behind his back, and Tertius exchanged half surprised, half uncertain looks with Nikki as Puck marched right up to Glitch and seized him by the shoulder.

"You will be with her ladyship," he said, and pushed the Iron fey a little roughly towards Trinity.

"Why not the original grouping?" asked Meghan, a little confused as she watched Glitch walk the rest of the way towards Trinity with a single annoyed look back at Puck.

"Because I don't trust that bug with Nikki," Puck said shortly, arms folded over his chest.

"But you trust him with me," Trinity said in a sarcastic voice, eyebrows shooting up as Puck turned to look at his current groupings.

"You'll kick his ass from here to Pluto and back if he tries anything," Puck informed her, now turning to regard Ash and Meghan, as well as the still sulking Cait Sith in front of him. "I'm not worried."

"I would, too," muttered Nikki, sounding affronted that Puck didn't trust her self-preservation.

"Not the point," said Puck distractedly, tapping his chin as he eyed the remaining three recruits.

"Then what is the point?" demanded Nikki.

Puck heaved a deep sigh, realizing she wasn't going to let him concentrate in peace, and, turning sharply on his heel, marched up to her, dropping his hands heavily on her shoulders, and looked dead in her eyes.

"The point is," he said slowly, his tone suggesting he might be explaining mathematics to a five-year-old, "That I don't want him near you. End of story. Now, would you mind if Furball is on your team, or would you rather have the ice princeling?"

"If he keeps calling me that," Ash muttered sullenly, fingering the hilt of his sword almost longingly as he glared at the back of Puck's head. Meghan hushed her prince with a gentle pat on the arm and a roll of her eyes.

"I'll take Furball—I mean!—Grimalkin," said Nikki. "We already have Ash's look-alike, I don't need to go getting them mixed up in a dark castle."

"Fair point, chick, the Furball it is," said Puck, and marched right over to Grimalkin, who only glanced around in time to see Puck bend to scoop him up in his arms.

"Robin Goodfellow, if you know what is good for you and your eyes you will put me down before I lose my patience," the Cait Sith growled dangerously, unsheathing his claws.

"Keep your fur on, Fluffy, I was just about to drop you," said Puck dully, and then opened his arms to dump Grimalkin unceremoniously on the forest floor at Nikki's feet. "Welcome to Group A. Play nice with your teammates until I finish assigning people."

"Puck, that was totally unnecessary," Nikki said in a reprimanding tone as Grimalkin angrily shook leaves out of his fur and growled a threat in the back of his throat.

"Whale on me for it later, chick, I've still got three people left," Puck said over his shoulder, waving a hand carelessly in the air. "Besides, Fluffy's fine. Cats always land on their feet after all."

Grimalkin gave an inelegant snort of disdain and sat rigidly at Nikki's feet, his tail around his paws and his yellows eyes trained on Puck's back as the fey went up to Meghan and Ash.

"Since I get the horrible suspicion you both would start pining away if I put you in a different group, you two can stick together," he said, and gestured towards where Trinity and Glitch were standing.

"You should at least put one of us in the other team," Meghan told him, looking a little alarmed. "How will you know where to go once we get into the palace?"

"Please, Meghan," said Ash in an almost pained voice, eyes rolling heavenward, "He's crashed the place enough times to know where almost every bedroom and broom closet is. He'll be fine leading the other group, and Grimalkin is with them."

Meghan didn't look entirely convinced, but when with Ash to stand with Trinity and Glitch, who by that point had struck up a riveting conversation about how much each of them would like to give Puck a good beating.

"So, now that we've got this all settled and done with," Puck said as he strode over to yet again fling his arm across Nikki's shoulder, a huge grin on his face, "Shall we get cracking?"

"The sooner the better," muttered Trinity, who was feeling it was about fucking time they got moving. For all she knew, Catherine could have been tortured and beheaded by her captors by now, but she tried to think too much on that. Her mind was just bombarding her with worst case scenarios as the reality of what they were getting ready to do sank all the way into the marrow of her bones, and she felt an unpleasant chill run down her spine.

"Well, then," said Puck cheerfully, and turned his eyes on Ash, "Lead on, your Excellency, since it is your former home we'll be breaking into and all that fun stuff. Only makes sense you should lead the charge yourself."

Ash's eyebrows shot up, but he refrained from speaking as he took firm hold of Meghan's hand and turned smartly on his heel, angling north, and set a quick pace through the woods, leaving the rest of the troupe to follow quickly along behind him and his queen. Tightening his grip on Nikki's shoulders, and earning a surprised look from her at the same instance, Puck took off at a brisk march behind the prince and Meghan, with Nikki struggling a little to keep pace with him. Glitch and Grimalkin fell into step beside each other with each of them casting dark looks at Puck from behind, which left Trinity and Tertius to bring up the rear.


	3. Chapter 3

They traveled in silence for the better part of the walk further into the half space between Winter and Summer territory, save the occasional jibe from Puck either at Ash or Grimalkin, who eventually learned it was just as good not to give the obnoxious fey the satisfaction of an answer, which left the fire haired fiend to pestering Nikki, who didn't have the docility in her to let herself be picked on, and soon the two were bickering back and forth—at one point she returned to her old habit of trying to poke his face, much to his chagrin—until Ash threatened to deep freeze the both of them and leave them that way until they came back with Catherine, to which Nikki subsided, though she still occasionally snuck a jab into Puck's ribs, which he would retaliate with by rapping her smartly over the head. Glitch once offered to walk with Nikki instead of Puck, to which the Iron fey immediately found himself with his helmet mysteriously sealed onto his head and his visor locked shut after Puck idly dropped a leaf on top of his head.

This led to another bought of bickering between Nikki and Puck, to which Ash halted the entire parade to round on Puck and not only command him to let Glitch out of his armor but to forewarn him that the next time Puck started something they would duel it out then and there and the Summer fey would be left bleeding and whimpering on the ground while they left without him.

While this bought was going on in the middle of a small grove, Tertius and Trinity lingered further away at the end of the group, watching with similar expressions of boredom as Puck and Ash stood almost toe to toe challenging each other while Meghan and Nikki tried desperately to separate them and Glitch tried in vain to pry his helmet off of his head. Grimalkin merely hunched to the side and watched the goings on with a completely disinterested expression, as though he'd seen one too many occasions like this and eventually entertained himself with a ladybug doing figure eights by his tail.

Trinity eventually sighed as she glanced skyward, seeing the sun beginning to set farther off to their left in the west, and realized with a sinking feeling of despair that they weren't going to make it into Tir Na Nog that night, and immediately after this revelation dropped herself heavily onto a protruding root from the tree behind her. Tertius, hearing her sigh of defeat and seeing her drop down, turned attentively towards her, his dark brows drawing together in a line of concern as he analyzed her miserable expression and the tiredness in her dull blue eyes.

"Are you alright, mi'lady?" he asked softly, turning and genuflecting in front of her, his armor chinking softly with his every movement.

"Yes," said Trinity wearily. "No…I don't know." She jammed her hands against her eyes, feeling suddenly like crying. "I really want to get to Catherine…and we're obviously not getting there tonight, and I know Ash won't let us do anything after night, so we've basically just wasted the day, and Cat could be really hurt and trapped and scared and…I don't know…I just don't know…"

She shook her head, her dark ivory hair spilling over her shoulders and into her face while spot of white popped and winked in front of her vision. She felt a sob rising fast in her chest and swallowed convulsively to suffocate it.

"I just want to get Cat back," she mumbled, pressing harder on her eyes a she felt the burning of tears just behind her eyelids. "I want her back safe and sound…"

"And you will," said Tertius softly, startling her into her lifting her head to stare in disbelief into his soul searching eyes that were a mirror image of Ash's. But somehow his eyes were subtly different to the prince's as he gazed up at her with a small, encouraging smile on his face that hadn't been there before. "I haven't heard much about your friend since being asked by my prince and my queen to participate in this rescue," he admitted quietly, reaching under his armor for something, and producing a handkerchief a moment later, which he offered her. "But I've heard plenty about you and your friend Nicolette. You two are very powerful, even for half humans. You two are quite stubborn, and I do not mean that disrespectfully. I am starting to think it must be a trait of humans rather than fey, but my queen is similarly determined in matters like this when someone she cares for is involved. She'll stop at nothing to bring them back safe, even if it means putting herself in harm's way."

Trinity was gaping at the Iron knight, completely oblivious to the handkerchief he was attempting to press into her hand, so in the end he reached up carefully to dab at the growing moisture in her eyes, his expression carefully neutral.

"I know your friend means a great deal to the both of you," he continued in his quiet voice, glancing over briefly to where Nikki was half dragging, half carrying Puck backwards from Ash while Meghan held the prince back from lunging at the Summer fey, both of them throwing empty threats across the air at each other. "And since I have also heard she is either whole or half human like the two of you, I know she is just as strong as you are. And that is what will keep her alive in Tir Na Nog until we can get to her."

Trinity felt her mouth fall open slightly as Tertius continued to patiently dab at the growing tears in her eyes, which she didn't even mind that they were falling down her face now. To be honest, at this point, she wasn't certain what shocked her more. The fact that Tertius was down on one knee consoling her that they would make certain to rescue her friend—a girl that the Iron fey had never even met or cared to know—or that he was acknowledging her strength, of which she had absolutely none, so she wasn't sure what he was harping on about.

Sure, others around her might think she had all the guts in the world and a clever mind to boot, and a way to get out of every danger and whatever else life might throw her way, but they never really saw the other side of her. The side that sometimes just wanted to curl up and cry herself into oblivion because she couldn't handle the situation at all. But it had always been that way. She might want to go off on her own and give up, but she never could because it wasn't just her that was involved. Like now… Right now, Catherine was being held hostage in the most hostile environment she could have conceived of, alone and probably terrified, and while Tri might wish she could just run off to nowhere and hide until everything bad went away, she couldn't. But to think that Tertius would be the one out of everyone she'd met in Nevernever so far—and even in the Mortal Realm—to suggest that she had such determination and bravery and strength stretched the limits of her belief almost to breaking point. And if she hadn't remembered how both Oberon and Nikki both had informed her time and time again that fey could not tell an untruth she might have given Tertius a mouth full for so brazenly lying to her.

But he wasn't. And she knew he wasn't.

"I'm really," she said, then paused as another sob threatened to overwhelm her, causing her to swallow hard once again, "I'm really not that strong," she mumbled, averting her gaze. "I just act strong because Nikki and Cat need me to. Since I'm the oldest, I feel like I need to be there for them. Like I'm responsible for what happens to them, and that I can't just give up because then what will happen to them if I'm not there?"

Tertius watched her silently for a moment, his hand coming to a standstill with the slightly dampened handkerchief held gently to her moist cheek, and his silvery eyes darkened as he saw yet more tears fill her eyes.

"But who is going to be there for you when you need someone to look out for you?" he asked after a long moment. "You can't always survive on your own. You'll fall to pieces otherwise."

She shrugged, not meeting his gaze, and instead clumsily pushed his hand away to wipe at her tears herself, sniffing quietly.

"Doesn't matter," she muttered. "Sometimes it just happens that way…"

Tertius's eyes flickered with brief annoyance and he frowned as he stowed the handkerchief back under his breastplate.

"No," he said sharply, "You just let it happen that way because it's easier than asking for help."

Trinity lifted her over bright blue eyes, startled by his suddenly harsh tone, and met his steel colored gaze head on, feeling her stomach do that stupid little flipping motion that seemed to occur whenever she looked him dead in the eyes. Funny, really, considering that never happened with Ash, and they had the exact same eyes, and she made a good habit of looking into the prince's eyes when she was talking to him. For some reason, she found it much harder to look into Tertius's eyes, but made herself do so as the knight frowned up at her from his kneeling position.

"It isn't a sin to ask for help, you know," the Iron fey informed her in a low murmur, his expression gentle but at the same time unyielding as he stared right into her deep blue eyes. "And no one would think less of you if you did."

Tri stared silently down at the Iron knight at her feet, for once at a loss for what to say. He seemed to have that effect on her, she thought vaguely. She never knew what to say when she was looking at him, though it was only a recently discovered thing and she was secretly hoping she'd learn to get over it. But as Tertius continued to gaze up at her, and her stomach continued to perform all manner of annoying acrobatics in her gut, she suspected it would take a while before she learned not to be so influenced.

At a loss for what else to do, she shrugged and tore her eyes away from him to stare instead at the still squabbling ice prince and Summer fey, though Meghan and Nikki had succeeded in separating them for the time being and were giving each of their respective men a good talking to. Ash was taking his discipline with good grace, though the way he was looking so intensely at Meghan made Tri think he was only taking it well because his gaze was causing the Iron Queen to trip over her own words so she quickly gave up trying to chastise him and instead settled for smacking him hard on the chest and glaring as he looped his arms around her waist. Puck was less gracious as Nikki jabbed a finger hard into his chest, hissing a reprimand that he grimaced at before gesticulating flamboyantly in Ash's direction and making a rather rude remark about how "that little popsicle's wooden stick is so far up his ass it's compressing his brain". Nikki promptly smacked Puck across his head for the remark and hissed a few more choice words at him.

Grimalkin was watching idly from his vantage point on a nearby root, and Glitch had finally gotten his helmet unstuck and was slouched over beside the Cait Sith, watching with great amusement as Nikki continued to lay down quite the verbal beating. Given the smirk on the Iron knight's face, Tri had no doubt in her mind that Glitch was getting rather taken with Nikki for how well she was able to talk back to Puck without getting turned into a peach tree.

"You know, ignoring me isn't going to help your case," Tertius informed Tri dryly, and when she felt a cool metal gauntlet land lightly on her knee, she jerked and turned abruptly back around to stare into the knight's burning silver gaze. "I get you don't really get a kick out admitting your weaknesses and asking for help when it's needed, but sometimes you've got to let your pride go and do what the right thing is."

Briefly feeling like her throat might close Trinity quickly swallowed and cleared her throat as discretely as possible. If Tertius noticed her struggle, he pretended not to, and instead went on looking up at her patiently, waiting for her to say something else that he might counter with yet more irritatingly calm logic.

"Did you rehearse this a lot for other people you know?" was all Tri could manage to come up with, and though she tried to sound sarcastic, her voice came out a little shakily as the remaining emotions from her earlier almost-breakdown choked her.

"No," the knight replied quietly, a brief smile crossing his lips. "Sorry if that comes as a disappointment. I don't take much pleasure from preparing speeches for others. Too much unnecessary effort for something that might not even be needed."

"Right," she mumbled, ducking her head so her ivory hair could cascade into her face again, giving her at least a little more privacy from Tertius's scrutiny.

Vaguely, she heard a loud whacking sound from the others' direction, followed by a loud oath from Puck and a rather malicious chuckle from Glitch, or Ash, she couldn't tell which. Tertius turned his head to observe the banter going on farther off from them, but kept his hand resting lightly on Trinity's knee, and Trinity made no move to dislodge it. Though she was having a bit of a hard time sitting still when it felt like the metal of his gauntlet might possibly be burning a hole through her jeans, though when she cared to glance down and inspect the fabric it was to see it firmly intact.

She glanced up once at Tertius's averted face, and saw absolutely no expression on his features that might give away that he was sensing anything similar to what she was at the moment; he seemed too absorbed at the moment in watching their comrades go at each other. Feeling a little foolish for her earlier display and growing increasingly uncomfortable sitting so close to the Iron knight with his hand resting so easily on her knee, she shifted subtly to draw his attention, and immediately had his silver eyes pinned on her as she cleared her throat.

"Thanks for the talk and everything," she mumbled, feeling pathetic and stupid as she refused to look at him while speaking, "Really…Um…I should probably go talk to Nikki…"

She could feel her cheeks darkening under his watchful eyes, but, mercifully, he refrained from commenting if he noticed anything unusual about her behavior or the growing redness in her face, and instead nodded and rose to his feet before proffering his hand in an offer to help her up. After a moment's hesitation, she took the hand extended to her and allowed him to pull her gently to her feet beside him. Immediately, she pulled back, putting at least a two feet's space between them and nervously brushing a stray strand of hair from in front of her eyes, clearing her throat unnecessarily, her eyes searching for anything to look at other than the knight.

"I need to speak with Glitch and the prince and queen," Tertius said quietly. "I suspect that we will need to gather some food for the night since we will undoubtedly make camp here."

She envied the ease in which he so casually stated his words, as though he was completely unbothered by the awkwardness of the short conversation they'd had, and nodded her head without speaking as the knight stepped away and made his way across the now darkened clearing towards his comrade and his commanders, who turned to look at him as he bowed and began speaking with them in a low voice. Trinity watched him from the tree, still feeling the slight burnings of tears still in her eyes and rubbing thoughtlessly at them as she made her way silently over to where Puck and Nikki were still bickering quietly, though less fiercely than before.

She didn't glance over at Tertius as she passed him, though she thought he might have turned his head in direction, though he could just as easily have been turning to speak more easily to Ash, who stood to his left. Either way, she focused completely on approaching Nikki and Puck, who paused in their miniature quarrel when they noticed her coming nearer.

"Hey," Nikki greeted her heartily, then paused when she noticed the redness in her friend's eyes. The half dryad frowned in concern and reached for her friend's hand as Trinity stepped up with a small bob of her head. "Hey…are you okay?"

"Yeah," sniffed Trinity, taking a deep breath. "Just frustrated…I really wanted to get to Tir Na Nog today and get Cat out…"

Nikki's frown deepened and her eyebrows slanted in both guilt and worry as she looked at her companion's miserable expression. She knew they probably could have made it into Tir Na Nog if not for the constant bickering between both Ash and Puck, and Puck and herself, but she also suspected that even if they'd crossed into Winter Territory, it would have already grown too late to launch a rescue by that time and they would still be basically where they were currently. Still, she felt a tremor of guilt and sorrow when she thought of how Catherine was locked away somewhere and they hadn't managed to hurry up and get to her before now. She was just as concerned as Trinity, to be honest, but for some reason she just couldn't seem as stressed or fearful as her friend was.

It was a natural instinct of hers, really. Fearful she may be for what they were preparing to do, and terrified for Catherine she might be, but every time she encountered such emotions, it was like a wall set itself up to block those negative feelings out, allowing her to remain calm and seemingly untouched by them while she worked a way to make things better. And though she was as far from making things better than she'd ever been in her life, she still couldn't let herself drown in the same emotions that were currently plaguing Trinity, and it made her feel even worse. Why couldn't she worry the same way? It almost felt like she didn't care about Catherine, but she knew she did, and Trinity knew it, too, even if they didn't show it the same way.

"We'll get her tomorrow," she reassured Trinity in a soft voice, putting an arm around her friend and hugging her as Trinity put an arm around her waist and buried her face in Nikki's shoulder. "No doubt, we'll get her. Just make sure I don't kill anyone saving her, alright? I'll probably be pissed as hell tomorrow when we break into the palace…"

Trinity smiled weakly and nodded her head. "Got it," she mumbled. "No murder. Right. Think you can hold me back, too?"

"Hell nah," said Nikki, smiling down at her friend, her chocolate eyes alive with laughter and sympathy. "If you go Rambo on them, I'm not holding you back. I'll be bringing up the rear."

"Because Rambo is such the excellent role model," Puck scoffed, rolling his eyes in exasperation from Nikki's other side, though his emerald eyes were sympathetic as he looked at Trinity's weary and worn expression. "I'm sorry we pissed around today, Tri, really…I know getting Cat out means the world to you guys. Trust me on this; she'll be out of there tomorrow faster than the ice princeling can lay out a battalion."

"Which, in case you weren't aware," Ash said casually from his position beside Meghan, a brief smile crossing his fair features, "Is quite fast."

"Yeah, yeah, don't go bragging, princeling," Puck said, smirking at the dark faery, "It'll give you a bigger head than you've already got and we don't need you floating up in the stratosphere with a balloon for a cranium."

Ash rolled his eyes but refrained from responding to Puck's less than gracious remark, considering himself lucky to have gotten any kind of friendly recognition from his rival in the first place, and instead turned his attention back to Meghan as the Iron Queen looped an arm around his waist, looking drowsy.

"So, camp?" Meghan inquired lightly, looking hopefully at Ash, who pursed his lips in an effort to keep from smirking.

"Tired already, princess?" snickered Puck. "That's quite sad, especially for someone of your naturally high stamina."

"We marched all the way here from Iron Kingdom, Puck, not to mention running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get resources to get into Tir Na Nog," Meghan said waspishly, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the faery, but not managing to contain a smile. "I have every right to be tired."

"Sure thing, princess, sure thing," snorted the Summer faery, folding his arms over his chest and flashing a mischievous grin. "And we surely make camp here, because it's totally not exposed or anything like that if something wants to try creeping up on is in the middle of the night."

"Here is fine," Glitch contradicted Puck immediately before anyone else could speak. "Tertius and I can stay up as guards. Anything that wants to get to the rest of you would have to have a serious death wish before they were stupid enough to attempt getting past."

Puck's mouth formed a tight line as he narrowed his emerald eyes in dislike at the Iron knight, but he couldn't disagree quickly enough before Ash and Meghan were nodding their heads in agreement and offering to take turns as watch for the night.

"So, it's settled," Meghan said after a few moments of brief discussion, turning with a smile to the rest of the group. "We'll just lay out the packs and call it a night. Everyone really needs to get some rest, though, since we'll be up at the crack of dawn to start for Winter Territory."

"Looks like Grim's already got the right idea, then," Nikki commented with a smirk, having spied the Cait Sith curling up languidly on the root he had been perching on and dropping his tail over his nose; yellow eyes already tight shut. "So, let's all follow suit, huh?"

Everyone quickly agreed—the exception being a significantly disgruntled Puck—and began to scurry around, gathering firewood or laying out the thin blankets that Ash and Meghan had had the foresight to pack up with the rest of their gear. Nikki was helping Meghan lay out a couple small pillows pulled from her rucksack, but a flicker of red caught the corner of her eye and she glanced around to see Puck leaning up against a large oak nearby, his eyes scanning the clearing around them, and his expression rather sour as he swept his green gaze briefly over Glitch's bent back as the Iron fey scavenged dry wood from nearby with Tertius at his side.

Sensing a mutiny in the making, Nikki heaved a resigned sigh and marched over to the faery, who didn't turn to look at her as she stepped in front of him, but muttered under his breath to her,

"That Glitch is a right nasty piece of work…"

"Uh-huh," said Nikki in a bored tone, eyebrows shooting up as she folded her arms loosely over her chest. She let her dark eyes assess the displeased look on Puck's face, as well as his rigid posture, and after a moment's contemplation more she shook her head and sighed. "You don't like him, do you?"

"Nah, I think he's just charming," said Puck in his most sarcastic voice, wrinkling his nose as he finally decided to look away from Glitch just for a respite and fixed his green eyes on Nikki instead. "Don't you? Just a bright little ray of fucking sunshine, he is."

"And Ash walks on water," snorted Nikki in disbelief, still with eyebrows raised as she stepped forward to lean one hip lazily against the broad tree trunk with Puck. "Seriously, Puck, what's going on? Do you and the guy have a bad history or something? He seems nice enough to me."

Puck grumbled incoherently under his breath, but Nikki was sure she'd caught a few choice swear words in the mix that would have made a sailor blush.

"Puck," she said tiredly, "Not telling me what's up isn't going to help the situation. And, in case you'd temporarily forgotten, we need his help tomorrow getting Cat and you know how damn important that is."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," muttered the faery, though he still didn't look pleased as he scuffed his heel across the ground in front of him, very much sulking. "And I'll cooperate with him, I promise, I just don't want him hanging around any longer than is necessary. I don't know why the princess decided that punk was worth making a right hand man."

"Probably because she sees something you don't," suggested Nikki idly, shrugging her slender shoulders and glancing over towards where Glitch was carefully making a tent of the wood pieces he and Tertius had collected while Ash stood by to light them. "And, to be honest, I'm wondering what you're not seeing, because, like I said, he seems like a perfectly decent guy to me."

Puck gave her an almost dirty look when she glanced back up at him, and she felt distinctly affronted by it. So much so that she straightened up from the tree and fixed the Summer faery with a dark look of her own, hands resting solidly on her hips as she gave him an suspicious up and down.

"What the hell is that about?" she demanded.

"What is what about?" he asked dully, arching a fiery red eyebrow.

"That look," she said, and raised a finger threateningly, ready to poke his face again. Sensing the danger, Puck immediately raised both hands to shield himself and took a swift step away. "You just looked at me like I'd turned into a cockroach or something."

"No, you're still very much human," Puck observed, peering between his fingers at her, "Or half human anyway. That dryad side of you is shining through pretty well, too, but no cockroach."

"Not funny, Puck," she said coldly, beginning to tap her foot against the ground in irritated fashion. "Now, come on, fess up. What is the huge deal with you and Glitch?"

"He's scum," said Puck in a tone that suggested that was all that needed to be said on the matter.

Nikki wasn't halfway sold on the issue, and the look she gave Puck said as much.

"Elaboration would be a greatly appreciated thing, you know," she told him flatly.

Puck grimaced, but sighed as he realized she wasn't going to back down on the issue unless she got a valid answer out of him. He hated that… Explanations had never been his forte. At least not if they required tiny details. He liked the broader spectrum of explanation, like 'he's an ass', or 'she's trash'. That was the only problem with Nikki. She liked detail.

Glancing once between where Glitch was now standing upright beside the burning fire he'd constructed, and then to Nikki, who was giving him a slightly impatient look as she waited for him to get to the talking, Puck grumbled once to himself, then dropped his hands loosely to his sides and shrugged.

"I've met him before," he muttered. "When he was still playing puppet for the resistance against the false Iron King some time ago—and he wasn't exactly a saint. He's got a pretty dirtied repertoire and I haven't really gotten past that."

Nikki eyed Puck carefully for a moment, watching as the fey rolled back onto his heels, not quite meeting her eyes as he glanced all around them, feigning interest in the way the moonlight seemed to shimmer off the leaves over his head.

"But that's not all, is it?" she prompted him when he didn't seem ready to speak more on his own. "You could get past him being a bad cookie in the past. You've done it with Ash, and you two had it out for each other from what I heard. You might hold grudges, Puck, but you suck at staying mad for very long, even if the other person is still ready to go for your throat. Mad just isn't something you do well, faery or not."

Puck clicked his tongue sharply, glanced once at her, then crossed his arms solidly over his chest, shrugged, and didn't speak.

"Robin Goodfellow," she snapped, losing her patience, and drawing the attention of everyone standing around them with the sharpness in which she spoke Puck's longer name. Even the addressed faery flinched at the whip-like crack in her voice, and glanced over uneasily towards her, though he managed a small grin.

"Yes, ma'am?" he asked while the rest of the group watched them curiously from a little further off by the fire.

"Don't you 'ma'am' me," said Nikki, glaring. "I'm getting tired of you playing Locked-Lip with me and I have half a mind to slap you clean from here to next Tuesday! So unless you'd like to spend the rest of the night icing a chipmunk cheek, I suggest you cut the crap and start singing."

"I have horrible singing voice, I'm afraid," Puck said, flashing a smirk her way. "You'd be bleeding your ears out."

Nikki took a menacing step towards him, fist raised, and he relented immediately, hands going up to shield his face.

"Alright, alright!" he said, hunching his shoulders as she loomed over him with menace glinting in her dark eyes. "I'll talk; just take it easy, now."

"You've got five seconds," she growled.

Over by the fire, Ash was grinning so broadly that it was a wonder his face didn't split in two, and when Meghan caught the look of absolute glee on the prince's face she gave him a sharp slap on the arm, glaring at him when he looked innocently down at her. Glitch was better at hiding his amusement as he ducked his head to pretend to tend to the fire, though his hair wasn't quite long enough in the front to hide the enormous smirk he was sporting. Tertius simply watched in idle curiosity with Trinity seated on a log beside him, looking resigned. Grimalkin had opened one yellow eye and was now sleepily watching the goings on between the fearless Robin Goodfellow and a five-foot-four half human dryad with faint interest.

"Alright, alright," Puck said again, his tone soothing as he gently reached out to touch Nikki's still raised fist, "I'll talk, chick, don't hit me."

"Four seconds," Nikki snapped.

"Jeez, you just don't wait, do you?" muttered Puck, seizing her suddenly by the wrist and yanking her a little ways off behind a tree, out of the speculative gazes of their comrades.

"Three."

"Keep your panties on, chick, I'm talking!" Releasing her wrist and turning to face her in the dim light behind an even more massive tree than the one they'd just been standing in front of, Puck placed his hands on hips and gave Nikki an almost weary expression. "So, I don't like Glitch's past, sure. And, yeah, you're right, I could completely get past that if it weren't for one tiny, teensy little problem."

"And the problem is what, exactly?" asked Nikki, still irritated, but a little less irate now that she'd gotten Puck to take her threat seriously.

"The problem," Puck said patiently, now drumming his fingers slowly against his thigh as he stared down at her through glittering emerald eyes, "Is that he looks at you the way _I _look at you."

There was a moment of dead silence, save the crackling of the fire in the clearing just behind them. Nikki was staring up at Puck, her brown eyes wide, and her mouth slightly ajar.

"Say what?" she finally managed to get out through her stunned disbelief.

"Like hell you didn't hear me, chick," Puck said tartly, narrowing his eyes.

"No, I heard you," she confirmed, "I just don't believe that I heard you. And even if I did, what the hell is that supposed to mean? 'He looks at you like _I _look at you'. Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Just what it sounds like, Nik," Puck said exasperatedly, looking like he wanted to throw his hands in the air in exasperation but refraining from doing so. "He looks at you like I do."

"I meant how do _you _look at me?" Nikki said, still staring up at him in confusion and amazement.

Puck gawked at her, now taking his turn to be stunned.

"You're fucking kidding me, right?" he said after a long moment.

"No, I'm not," she said, a little annoyed that he was gaping at her like she was stupid. "And don't cuss at me, Puck, I mean it. I get pissed off when people cuss at me."

"I'm not cussing at you," he said blankly. "I'm cussing at the sheer fact that I apparently haven't been blunt enough to get the fucking point across."

"What point?" Nikki was getting seriously annoyed again. She felt like they'd come full circle from the beginning of the conversation. What was it with this guy and his mind games, anyway?!

"The point that," Puck began, then froze, glancing to his immediate left, and narrowing his eyes. "Can we help you?" he asked, causing Nikki to turn to see just who he was talking to.

To her amazement, she spotted a flickering ball of light hovering just three feet off the ground, and though it wasn't close enough for her to make out just what the thing was, it gave a high pitched giggle and zoomed out of sight.

"Fucking piskies," grumbled Puck, turning back to her. "Always getting up in everyone's business…"

"The point, Puck," Nikki prompted him, quickly recovering from her fist piskie sighting and turning back to the Summer jester in front of her. "The point is that…?"

Puck seemed to hesitate, being brought abruptly back to reality that he was being hassled by a half human dryad with a short temper and who was already quite irritated with him, and after a weary glance in her direction, he groaned and turned to face her, leaning forward until—unsuspectingly—he rested his forehead against her.

Nikki felt her stomach do a funny little flip, and her heart suddenly seemed to be playing a staccato beat against her ribs as she stared up, dumbfounded, into Puck's glowing green eyes. Not able to move, not able to speak, barely able to think, she stood there in silence, listening to the blood beginning to pound loudly in her ears, and felt a flush of heat begin creeping up the back of her neck as he exhaled, breathing warm air right against her cheek.

"Uh," she said stupidly, blinking rapidly up at the faery.

"The point you seem oh-so fascinated with," Puck said, cutting across any other words she might decide to speak, "Is that I look at you in a very similar fashion to how his princeliness looks at the Iron Queen, and if you can't figure out how he looks at her then I don't even know what the hell I'm gonna say next, so I hope you can figure that part out, at least…"

It was just a show of how completely star struck she was at that precise moment that Nikki couldn't even come up with a witty response in answer to the faery's statement, and instead stood in silence, continuing to stare up at him, mouth slightly ajar, and struggle to remember to take slow, steady breaths. It was proving a much more difficult endeavor than she'd first thought it would, since breathing was second nature to anything living if survival was to be ensured, but it almost appeared as though her body could care less about living at this point. But that wasn't the most difficult thing to comprehend at this point, either. What was difficult to get through her sluggish brain was that she was quite sure Puck had just given the closest thing to a confession she had ever heard, and given the way he was gazing down at her with an intense fire burning in his emerald eyes only seemed to clarify that statement. Even though he didn't once say anything else to further elaborate his point, and he didn't move either closer or farther away from her, but remained stationary as he was, with his warm forehead pressed against hers, only a breath away and very much in her personal space to an almost horrifying degree, though at the moment she didn't particularly mind.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there, staring at each other after the Summer faery's little confession, but it seemed like an eternity, until a dry cough from somewhere off in the distance seemed to snap Puck back into reality, and he leaned away from her, heaving a deep sigh.

"Well, there it is," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and shrugging as he straightened up, still looking down at her. "A little anti-climatic, but…yeah…"

Nikki blinked once; twice. Slowly, her mind started to work the gears faster until she could finally stammer out, a little clumsily,

"So…you're…jealous?" The way she said it made it sound much less significant than she knew it to be, and though Puck's eyes flashed briefly with annoyance at her belittlement of his words he didn't speak, but simply nodded his head.

"Oh," Nikki mumbled, feeling foolish, and completely thrown for a loop.

She was having a very difficult time swallowing what had just been all but shoved down her throat, feeling like she might choke any minute. Puck was jealous of Glitch…Puck liked her—like-liked her!—and was jealous of Glitch because the Iron fey apparently had some kind of twisted interest in her, too. The only thing she figured she was really having trouble with was—and actually there were a couple things she was having trouble with—the fact that 1: Puck liked her at all, aside from being her self-designated chauffer in Nevernever, and 2: She'd only known Glitch for a good few hours starting today, and hadn't even really spoken to him, so the idea that the Iron faery had even suggested interest in her without her notice seemed a bit farfetched.

But she remembered one thing, and it helped her stifle down her disbelief: Faeries couldn't lie.

"Oh," she said again, feeling her face turn red with embarrassment at how redundant she must sound. "I guess…that makes sense, then…"

Puck cast her a narrow eyed glance, a frown turning down the corners of his mouth, and he heaved another enormous sigh, letting his eyes fall closed as a pained expression came over his face.

"You don't believe a thing I just said, do you?" he asked wearily.

"I do!" she burst out without thinking, then turned crimson as the faery's eyes snapped open to ogle her. "I just…it's a lot to take in at once…that's all…"

She half expected him to demand to know what was so hard to take in about him confessing to her—even if it _had _been a kind of half-assed confession—and was surprised when she didn't receive immediately rebuttal. Peeking up through her lashes at the redheaded faery, she felt a thrill of surprise and excitement to see him looking down at her through half-lidded eyes, much like Grimalkin was in the habit of doing, but this look wasn't bored or uncaring like Grim's. The emerald eyes that stared down at her fairly glowed with unspoken emotion, and as she looked up at him, a small smile came across his mouth.

"Don't sweat it," he told her quietly, reaching forward to knock his knuckles lightly on the top of her head. "I always took you for a modest kind of girl, but I didn't realize just how completely off the radar you put yourself. Noticing a guy is interested in you has to be a little off putting, huh? Though why you really never got a clue before now is kind of funny. You're not stupid, so I guess you're just kind of blind."

She frowned at him, lifting a hand to rub at the spot on her head he'd hit, and he chuckled.

"I'm not blind," she mumbled. "Just no guys have been interested in me before now…"

"Oh, what bull," snorted Puck, looking amused. "I may not have known you long in the mortal realm and all that, but trust me on this, Nik, you're a head turner by anyone's standards. And faeries aren't so easy to impress, just in case you were about to use that as an excuse. You're harder to put to get a faery's attention than a humans, so don't go telling me that you've never turned heads in the human world, because I'd bet the prince's shiny ice crown that you have and you just don't notice."

Nikki glowered at him, but decided not to say anything. Knowing him, he'd just make another argument against whatever proof she offered that she was really no attention-getter, and they'd end up arguing circles around each other until got tired. Not that she wasn't tired already, but with her heart going a mile a minute with no show of slowing down and a flaring heat still in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the temperate climate around them she figured she wouldn't be feeling the urge to indulge that tiredness anytime soon.

"So, now that you've gotten me to say it," Puck said idly, rocking back onto his heels, then forward again with a subtle glint in his emerald eyes, "Would it be fair to ask if you'd give me an answer some time in the near future?"

"An answer to what?" She asked because she was still too brain dead to comprehend what he was saying, but he seemed patient enough to grasp she was still on temporary overload and merely rolled his eyes and explained for her.

"You've heard my confession," he said, shrugging. "I'd like to hear yours and know if I've got any kind of chance in the world if I should just drop it like it's hot and get over it. I'm not saying you have to tell me anything tonight, or even tomorrow. But sometime in the next decade would be nice, you know?"

He flashed his trademark grin at her, and she couldn't help smirking in her natural response to him. Then she sobered up a little as she realized the rather huge immensity of the current situation.

"I'll…" she hesitated, feeling a little unsteady, then mumbled, "I'll think about it. It's a lot…like I said…"

"I know," he said in a soft voice, and reached up to gently muss her hair. "Take your time, Nik. I know you're not one of those dime a dozen chicks to go making decisions on the spur of the moment. I wouldn't be half as interested if you were, believe me. So I know that asking you for your answer right now—whatever it ends up being—is beyond stupid. And you've got a hella lot of other things on your mind aside from this little tidbit, and I want you think about those things first."

Without even asking this time, Nikki knew he meant Catherine, and getting Catherine out of Tir Na Nog in one piece, and felt a welling of emotion as she thought of her friend, and another as she realized just how well Puck seemed to get her, just in the short amount of time she'd been in Nevernever, trailing behind him, nagging the hell out of him. Not many people could do that. But, then again, not many people in the world happened to be Robin Goodfellow.

She nodded her head in acknowledgment to his words, looking up at him through dark eyes to see him smiling broadly down at her.

"Oh, and could you do me another favor?" he asked, and she immediately went defensive.

Faeries asking favors were never a good thing…

Sensing he'd made a slight error in wording, Puck snickered and said, "I'm asking from a human perspective, chick. Not the faery perspective. You don't have to do anything like jump through hoops or anything like that, I just want to ask if you'll do something for me."

"Depends on what it is," she said suspiciously, eyeing him mistrustfully. "You're not going to ask me to kiss you, are you?"

"The thought crossed my mind, but nah," he said, shaking his head, his green eyes alight with laughter. "That comes later, once I've completely got you smitten with me and all that."

"Right," she said in disbelief, rolling her eyes. "So what's this time's favor, Goodfellow?"

"Well, for one, don't call me Goodfellow," he said, grimacing. "It makes you sound like the little princeling back there. And for the main event, do you think you could steer clear of that Iron schmuck?"

"I _could_," she said slowly, trying not to grin when she saw a flash of clear annoyance cross Puck's eyes. "And I think I might, just because I'm not all that into him to begin with. Nice guy and all that, but not my type."

Puck grinned.

"Good deal," he said with satisfaction, ruffling her hair again so she frowned and batted his hand away, reaching up to smooth back the mahogany waves. "Now, what say we go get something to eat, because, from the smell of things, the prince and his minions managed to cook something up while we were talking and I'm starving."

"Sure," she agreed, feeling her stomach rumble in anticipation. "Just so long as you don't go stealing the prince's share, because I'm not saving you if he goes after you."

"I don't steal from royalty, it never tastes as good the way they cook it," Puck said with a disgusted shake of his head. "They like it too damn crispy. Nah, I was planning on nabbing yours. Sound fair?"

He winked at her as they stepped back into view of the clearing, and she gave him a half hearted shove into the nearest bush, or tried to. He nimbly dodged aside at the last minute, nearly causing her to go careening into the brambles, but reached out and caught her around the waist and dragged her upright again.

"Walk much?" he asked as he snickered, arm across her shoulders as he led her over to the fire pit around which the rest of their merry troupe was stationed.

"You did that on purpose," she accused him heatedly, elbowing him hard in the ribs.

"Ow!" He jabbed her in the stomach, causing her to squeak, then pranced right out of reach when she would have given him a good poke in the cheek. "Cripes, woman, what is it with you and wanting to poke the hell out of my face?!"

"I don't know, your face is pokeable, now hold still, dammit!"

"No!"

Puck leapt clean over the fire when she attempted to grab his sleeve, landing behind Tertius, who merely glanced up from his meal of rabbit before sighing and returning to eating.

"Both of you sit down," Meghan said exasperatedly, looking caught between laughing and glaring as she watched Puck and Nikki lap circles around the others, who were seated. "If you don't eat the food, Ash and the others will, and they're not going to go get you more just because you missed out."

"Her Highness has spoken," Puck said dramatically, dropping himself onto the empty log across from Trinity and Glitch. "Right then, which one is mine?"

"Whichever one isn't mine," Nikki said sternly as she also sat down beside him, snatching up the nearest speared meat and taking a bite. She didn't know what she was eating, and she didn't particularly care at that moment, because the minute the warm meat hit her tongue her ravenous hunger kicked in and she barely managed to keep from tearing into the food without being indecent. Trinity raised her eyebrows at her friend's barely controlled display of hunger, and Glitch looked entertained, but Puck glanced once at Nikki, down at his own spear of meat, shrugged, and tore into it with just as much bravado.

"Ugh," muttered Ash, looking slightly disgusted, and Meghan wrinkled her nose slightly in agreement. Grimalkin paid no mind, too busy tucking in to his own share to care.

"Hungry there, Nikki?" Trinity asked idly when her friend had finally finished eating and was wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Starving," Nikki sighed, patting her now full stomach and grinning across the fire at her friend. "I don't even care what that was; that was delicious."

Puck let out a satisfyingly loud belch, tossing his clean stick into the fire where the fat grease crackled and popped as it hit the flames, and leaned back across the log with a deep sigh, hands behind his head.

"That was disgusting, Puck," Nikki told him, but she was giggling.

"Feh," he said, unconcerned as he stretched hugely. "That was nothing. Just a baby burp. You should see me at parties when they offer wine."

"I think we'll pass on that," Trinity said in disgust, finishing her own portion and tossing her stick into the fire as well.

"Alright," sighed Meghan as everyone finished eating, ignoring the play-by-play, totally used to Puck's less than dainty table manners. "Everyone get to sleep. Tertius and Glitch are standing first watch, then Ash and Grimalkin have agreed to take second watch. We'll be up early, so make sure you rest."

"No problems there," said Puck, yawning hugely as he rolled off the log to take up a spot on one of the nearby blankets. "I'm beat."

Trinity glanced once at him, looking a little resigned, then sighed and rose to her feet as Nikki did and they both chose bedrolls near to each other. Glitch and Tertius stationed themselves at either end of the clearing where openings were the greatest for potential attackers, and Ash and Meghan settled down on the remaining two bedrolls. Grimalkin remained curled up on a log near the fire, perfectly comfortable as he was, purring like a motor. Nikki bundled up tightly under the thin blanket provided for her, glad, at least, that the air around her was warm enough that she didn't feel chilly a she settled down, already feeling her eyelids grow heavy despite every fear and worry nagging at the back of her mind. Turning over to look at Trinity, it was to find the girl already half asleep, her mouth partially open as she breathed deeply.

"Yo, prince," Puck said sleepily, breaking the silence that had fallen in their little camp. "What the hell was in that rabbit? I feel ready to clock out in two seconds."

"Nightshade," muttered Ash drowsily, not managing to stifle his huge yawn. "Just to make sure no one stayed up who didn't need to be up and so we'll all be rested for tomorrow. Only Tertius, Glitch, Grimalkin and I skimped on it."

"Well, shit," muttered Puck, sounding groggier than before. "Just hope we don't sleep the entire day away…"

Nikki didn't hear the rest of the conversation that took place between Ash and Puck, for whatever 'nightshade' had been put into her food had already taken its toll, and she was out in the next five seconds without trouble. Where she might have feared nightmares of what was to come the next day, or odd dreams resulting from her and Puck's conversation, she slept soundly, without any dreams to disturb her. She didn't even stir when a few hours later Tertius and Glitch switched out with Grimalkin and Ash on guard duty and took up places on the abandoned bedrolls. Only one other person aside from the Prince and the Cait Sith remained awake through the rest of the night, though with some difficulty, gazing sleepily over at Nikki's peaceful face, his glittering emerald eyes at half mast.


	4. Chapter 4

She had to be insane to be standing here like this, practically toeing the line between sanity and death's door, but there it was. After all, hadn't Demon told her that mortals that spent too much time in Faery eventually went loco? Only made sense to apply to her, too, since she was half human, despite the fact that Demon had also made sure to educate her on the issue that her human nature wouldn't suffer at all in Faery thanks to her fey parentage. Still, Catherine was more prone to believing she was suffering the madness incurred by Faery in mortals than to think she was still perfectly sane to be standing at the final three inches before Winter Territory, staring out over the vast expanse of snow while, behind her, the endless stretch of Summer's territory spread away into the south, in full bloom overflowing with life. There was no such brilliance or vigor in Winter, save the sparkle of diamond-like snow just a scant foot from her toes, and the crushing silence that she was becoming so familiar with inside of the territory.

Somehow, the silence that reached her, even from the little distance off that she was, was oddly comforting, and she stood there, unmoving, practically reveling in that silence as she stared ahead of her into the white and black landscape ahead of her. It was hard to imagine that just a week and some ago, this place had been her worst nightmare, but it had been for a good reason that she'd dreaded the very mention of Tir Na Nog. Not many people would take kindly to being imprisoned in a frigid wasteland by a vindictive prince who took sick pleasure in tormenting half breeds like her. But she also had to consider that she'd returned before to Tir Na Nog, even knowing that Rowan, the second prince of the Unseelie Court, could still easily locate and trap her again. In her mind, she hadn't cared whether he found her or not, because searching for her father—her real father, the Cait Sith that had been with her mother—was paramount over anything else that might happen.

Of course, Demon hadn't been so keen on the idea of returning to Winter Territory so carelessly after their first narrow escape from the Unseelie Court, but he hadn't argued with her either, and had begrudgingly returned. That time, they'd been caught as well, though fortunately not by Rowan, but his elder brother, the heir to the Unseelie Throne, Prince Sage. She hadn't been conscious for most of what had transpired between Demon and the Prince before they'd been taken back to the castle, given she'd fallen a good twenty feet out of a tree and hadn't had the time or ability to make herself immaterial like Demon could. The result: a broken ankle, and a fortnight spent in the Unseelie Court, hidden away in the Prince's private quarters safe from harm in exchange for a couple of favor's from Demon, and the vow that once they left Sage would never lay eyes on them again in Winter.

A chilly breeze swept across the snowy lands in front of Catherine, blowing straight into Summer, but before the heat of the opposing territory could keep it from progressing farther it had reached Catherine, who shivered and drew her borrowed cloak a little more tightly around her. She'd forgotten just how cool Winter's climate could be, even from a distance. Of course, it was nothing on the uncomfortable chill she seemed to keep getting the longer she stood there, even without the wind blowing over her harshly. No, this more insistent chill seemed more out of a lurking discomfort than any physical distress.

She had been standing there on the border for quite some time, and the entire time she had felt like she was being watched. Though whenever she'd cared to glance around she hadn't discovered anything of severe consequence or immediate danger. Occasionally, she'd see the brief flicker of a dryad shifting in her tree, but not many other fey made a habit of appearing in the between space between the Summer and Winter territories. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being carefully observed, and in the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it wasn't a guard from the Unseelie Court, stationed at the border to keep intruders out. Summer didn't have such sentinels, seeing as it would be a complete waste of manpower, and no one was really foolish enough to think of waging a boundary war in the peaceful neutral territory between the two courts.

But Winter had always been a bit stingier about 'mine' versus 'yours' and Catherine wouldn't put it past the Ice Queen, Mab, to station a guard or two at the entrance to her domain. Perhaps an ice troll just to deter the foolhardy. Catherine smiled slightly at the thought of an enormous, blue skinned fey with broad shoulders holding a club, watching her mutely from the other side of the trees, just waiting for her to take a step across so he could play "Whack-a-Cait" with her. Then she considered how foolish an idea that was. Mab might worry for the trustworthiness of the Summer court, but her territory's entrance was so harsh that any Summer fey foolish enough to cross into wouldn't get much farther than a few yards before they were forced to turn back. So, Catherine mused to herself, her jade eyes scanning the tree line thoughtfully, if it wasn't a personal guard sent to bar the way, who—or what—was watching her?

Sure, she could try convincing herself that she wasn't, in fact, being watched at all, and was just suffering a bad case of paranoia, but Demon had taught her many things in her time in Nevernever, and she'd learned a few things on her own as well. And one of those lessons had been 'If you feel like someone is watching you, they are'. If you wanted to get through Faery in one piece, you never summed anything up to coincidence, and Catherine had never been one for simple coincidences in the first place. Her mother had made very sure to teach her never to take anything for granted, and Catherine was grateful for the advice now.

As she peered carefully through a large gap in the nearby trees ahead of her, seeing snow beginning to fall in Winter's territory though it never entered into Summer, she thought she saw an unusual shape looming near one of the larger oak trees that she hadn't been aware of before, standing completely motionless, but she sensed something was off about it. Narrowing her eyes, trying to decipher more out of the shape than she was getting with her vision, with her concentration so riveted on that strange shape in the shadows, she almost missed the telltale crackling of snow under foot, though it was so quiet it could have been the snow falling from a tree limb to the ground.

She turned abruptly at the noise, however, her fey ears pricking up at the disturbance as her vision raked the trees nearest to her, and immediately felt her stomach jolt as she saw deliberate movement behind one of the nearest covering of foliage. Taking a cautious step back, she jolted again when, out of the corner of her eye, the odd shape near the other trees she'd just noticed shifted menacingly as well.

_It was alive…_

For some reason, the revelation didn't surprise her or scare her as much as it should have, and rather than take off at a mad dash back into the deeper, safer territory of Summer, Catherine merely took a couple wary steps backwards as the two shapes converged on her from opposing sides, still cloaked in shadow. Her jade eyes flickered between them, making sure neither one would come at her faster than the other, or that while she was distracted with one, the remaining would launch a blindsided attack.

But neither figure seemed intent on attacking her, at least not yet, and simply moved closer, following the line of trees, staying hidden, but being deliberately open about their movements, as though to ensure her that they were, indeed, making movements towards her and they weren't ignorant to the fact that she was there. Of course, she wouldn't have expected them to act as though she weren't there. A supposed Summer fey staring blankly into Winter territory for the better part of a couple hours was bound to get attention eventually, even if she did no more than sit and stare. Insanity, she had learned, was one thing that both humans and faeries alike frowned upon, shockingly. And given she'd spent the better part of her day that didn't include walking here gazing vaguely into enemy territory, it only stood to reason that she must suffer a mental affliction of some kind.

So she stood and waited in patient silence for the Winter's guardians to come confront her. She didn't know exactly what they would say, or how she would respond, if they said anything at all, but she'd clear that hurdle when she came up to it.

Her eyes continued to flick back and forth restlessly between the two guardians, but as they drew nearer, a voice finally issued from the figure approaching from her right—the one who had been first to move—and spoke,

"You know, when I made you vow never to let me see you in Winter again, I never thought you would use such a blatant loophole if you ever come back. I suppose I should give more credit and consideration to the half human daughter of a Cait Sith."

From the moment the voice had spoken, Catherine had turned into her own personal ice sculpture, her heart even going so far as to stop beating for several seconds before kicking into total overdrive as she lifted her wide eyed gaze to lock with a pair of frosty green eyes that looked back at her from the shadows. A moment later, shaking snow from his black cloaked shoulders as he stepped from beneath the shelter of the Winter trees, Prince Sage loomed over her, his expression unfathomable, with his icy emerald eyes narrowed in silent contemplation as he gazed down at her upturned face.

Catherine stared back up at the Winter prince, not daring to move or speak, and felt her throat constrict as he towered over her, as terrifying and beautiful as she remembered, until a low growl from her left had her turning her head in time to see the massive gray wolf, Bane, loping out into the open as well, amber eyes trained on her face. He bared his teeth slightly in a quiet snarl, but did nothing more than come to stand at his master's side, eyeing her. Thoughtlessly, Sage dropped a hand onto his wolf's head and scratched at the animal's ears, though his gaze remained immovably fixed on her.

In the meantime, Catherine's heart was thudding rapidly against her ribcage, and she felt very much out of breath just staring up in a mixture of fear and shock at the Winter Prince, who she had never imagined in her life she would ever see again. At least, not in circumstances like this. After all, he'd made her vow that he would never see her in Winter again, and though wasn't technically within Winter's boundaries, she sure as hell was close enough that he might overlook the slight difference and just lop off her head and be done with it. Faeries took their promises and oaths deadly seriously, and she was on the brink of breaking her own oath, though she suspected that Sage wouldn't be all that surprised if she ended up being in contempt of her oath considering her half human heritage. No one in Faery made a habit of trusting half-breeds, after all, and the Winter Prince—though a little less caustic about the issue of hybrids—was not any less Faery, and therefore just as likely to mistrust her.

"So," Sage said quietly, his low voice whimsical and at once cool as he addressed her, "Should I even ask why you happen to have spent the last few hours standing on the border between the courts?"

Catherine felt a pang at his question, followed by a brief spark of irritation as she realized that by asking the question, he had basically admitted to the fact that he had either had someone watching her for the past few hours—more than likely Bane—or that he himself had been standing there just as long or longer watching her watch his territory. She felt an insane need at that moment to question him on whether or not he'd spent all of his time watching her, then thought better of it as she became poignantly aware of the fact they were in the middle of the wyldwood between Summer and Winter with absolutely no witnesses—save a few reclusive dryads—if he decided to run her through or behead her.

So rather than indulge her childish urge to call him out and risk his temper, she looked up as steadily as she could into his eyes, which reminded her unerringly of frost coated emeralds, and shrugged delicately.

"I had nothing else to do today," she said in a subdued voice. "It was either this or wait around in the healer's tavern all day waiting for Demon to wake up."

"The Cait Sith?" Sage's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Has he fallen ill or been injured?"

"Injured," she admitted, not sure whether she should be telling him this or not. "Nothing too horrible, just enough to make him lazier than usual, and overly crabby, too."

She flashed a small smile at Sage, but felt no amusement as she said it, and the prince did not return the smile, but simply stood there and quietly murmured, "I see."

Silence fell over them again, only broken once by the sound of Bane giving a rasping cough to which Sage patted his familiar's head and continued to eye Catherine with a skeptical eye.

She, in turn, stood silently in front of him, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the situation, but for some reason not having the will to up and leave. It would have been the easier thing to do, most certainly, but she just couldn't seem to find it in herself to bid the prince a respectful farewell and be on her way. So she continued to stand quietly, glancing cautiously between the ground and Sage's vibrant eyes, though never being able to hold his speculative gaze for much longer than a few seconds before being forced to take greater notice in the dirt and leaf debris at her feet, wishing that Sage would make up his own mind whether he would leave or say something else to her. The silence was really starting to get to her.

"You look ill," the Winter prince stated calmly after another minute of suffocating quiet.

"I feel fine," she said automatically, then winced as she sensed the sidhe grow slightly stiller than before. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"No, you have not been offensive," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And though I do not doubt your words that you feel physically fit your eyes tell a different story…"

She had to keep herself from foolishly lifting her hands to check for any physical abnormalities on her eyes as he said it, and instead glanced up at him once more from under her lashes to see him gazing intensely back.

"You have not been sleeping well," he murmured. "You have dark circles under your eyes."

Ah, so that was it, she thought dully. She hadn't been sleeping well, to be perfectly honest, and, mentally, she was starting to wear down. She was used to a solid eight hours or more of sleep a night, and up until a week and some ago she hadn't been struggling to fulfill that quota, even during her imprisonment in Tir Na Nog. But since leaving Winter for the last time, she had barely managed to get more than a couple of hours of shut eye a night, and that was if she was lucky. Most nights in the past week had been entirely sleepless and she often had to take breaks during the day to keep herself running.

Demon, of course, had noticed this, which had been part of the reason he'd ended up injured in the first place during their confrontation with the red caps, and was probably the other reason the Cait Sith had all but ordered that they spend a good few days at the healer's. He'd wanted her to get rest as well, but she hadn't faired very well on that. The healer had even gone so far as to mix many numerous drafts of potion, but Catherine had never drunken any of them; waiting until the aged goblin had left the room before surreptitiously pouring whatever contents were in her glass into the nearest disposable area she could find. As a result, she'd been suffering quite a bit on account of her now record-breaking seven days without sleep.

She shrugged, feeling her eyes grow heavier all of a sudden without really knowing why.

"It hasn't been the most relaxing week," she mumbled to Sage, not really sure if he cared to know why she was practically dead on her feet or not.

"Have you taken a draft to help you sleep?" he asked. "I would have thought your guide, as concerned with your wellbeing as he is, would have seen to it that you were well taken care of, especially if you are residing at a healer's residence while he recovers."

"To be honest, I've kind of been blowing him off on that issue," she confessed wryly, "Because he's tried to get the healer to get me to drink some of the things she cooks up, but I always end up dumping out whatever she's made and then acting like I took it, though I'm sure she knows better and is just being deliberately ignorant about it."

"You are lucky she hasn't forced poppy seeds down your throat if that's the case," Sage said, sounding slightly amused. "Healers take the care of their patients very seriously, regardless of the ailment. If she is turning a blind eye to the fact you are shunning her treatment, she is both exceptionally patient with you and not willing to force you to accept whatever would benefit your health, or she really is that senile. Though I feel it must be more the former than the latter."

"You're probably right," sighed Catherine, nodding her head tiredly in agreement. She felt suddenly super exhausted, and actually glanced around wearily for a place to sit, immediately locating a nearby stump and setting herself down on it with a low groan. "And it isn't that I don't appreciate her efforts and all that, but…I don't know…I guess I just didn't feel like taking something artificial to help me do something natural."

"Understandable," murmured the prince with a small nod, his expression thoughtful as he watched her hunch over on the stump with her elbows propped up on her knees to support her, "Though foolish. You are visibly wilting with the lack of sleep… When was the last time you managed to sleep a healthy amount?"

"What would be a healthy amount?" she asked.

"Whatever is your regular span of sleep," he answered. "Everyone is different."

"My norm is about eight hours a night or more," she mumbled, letting her heavy eyelids drift shut and resting her forehead against her palm.

"Then when was the last time you managed to sleep that long or longer?"

Catherine tried to think back, absentmindedly wondering why she even felt obliged to answer the prince in the first place, but when both inquiries—such as the last time she'd gotten a wink of sleep, and why she felt like answering him—turned up empty, she shook her head in defeat.

"I don't know," she muttered. "Maybe a week…"

"Hmm…" Sage's tone was thoughtful. "Have you started hallucinating yet?"

"Depends," she said with a small scoff, "Are you real?"

God, she was tired…she felt like passing out right there, but couldn't seem to just let the tiredness overtake her; though she felt she should be at least a little grateful that she was physically tired at all. She hadn't felt this ready to clock out in almost a week.

"This is no laughing matter, human," Sage said sternly. "Even for a faery, mental health deteriorates rapidly if one doesn't manage to rest as they should. If you end up losing sanity for lack of sleep, I'm sure your guide will not be the only one suffering the ill effects of it."

"Then I'll take something when I get back to the healer's," Catherine sighed, lowering her head further until it was resting on her knees.

"You won't make it back in this condition," the prince said, and with a slight crackling of dead leaves he stepped forward to crouch in front of her. "You would undoubtedly collapse before making it back to the healer, and with no one to watch over you, you'd likely become victim to whatever fey happened across you. Satyrs, red caps, whichever the case may be."

"Joy," she said tiredly. "So, what do you recommend, then, if I can't muster the strength to go back on my own? I suppose you wouldn't care much to escort me."

She said it jokingly, but when Sage didn't answer she forced her head up—though it felt equivalent to lifting a ton of bricks on her neck—to look groggily up at him to find him contemplating in silence as he crouched in front of her.

"I was kidding," she said, almost desperately. She really didn't want the prince near her, let alone taking her back through Summer to the healer's.

"I know you were," Sage told her, and flashed a wry smile. "You are right that I have no intention of escorting you back to the Cait Sith and the healer. It's pathetic you can't do it on your own."

"So, just leave me here then until I can walk?" she prompted him.

Half of her wished he _would _leave, just because she was feeling more than vulnerable being in this no-man's land between Summer and Winter with him, but the other half of her didn't really want to be left entirely alone here for however long it took to her gather up her strength to head back to the healer's. Especially when she already felt like she might never walk again. Besides, she hadn't told him the true reason she'd been standing at the border of Summer and Winter, and the reason that her second half didn't want him to leave…

She also hadn't told him something else; the entire reason she hadn't been able to sleep in a week, though that was because she, herself, wasn't entirely sold on her explanation for why she couldn't seem to shut her eyes and doze for more than an hour on any given night. She couldn't confirm that being away from him was the whole reason she was struggling in the first place, and until such a time as she did manage to confirm or deny that, she wasn't about to let him onto it. She hadn't even let Demon in on her suspicions, so Sage would be the absolute last person she would tell if such a thing ever happened to come up.

In the mean time, while she was contemplating the bad and worse things going on her head, Sage continued to sit on the balls of his feet, watching her thoughtfully through meditative emerald eyes, until something in his expression seemed to finalize and he heaved a deep sigh, rising to his towering height over her and folding his arms over his chest.

"How far do you think you can manage to walk as of now, human?" he asked her in his calm voice.

Pulled from her stupor, Catherine gave a weak shrug. "I can't really judge distance, but I could estimate I'd stay up for a few minutes, at least," she guessed. "Why?"

"Come with me," was the answer she got, followed by the soft crunch of snow as Sage stepped back into his territory.

Forcing herself up into a sitting position again, she narrowed her eyes in confusion to see the Winter prince waiting patiently for her just beyond the tree line, and frowned when he arched an eyebrow, clearly expecting her to follow.

"Where are we going?" she asked, even as she planted her hands on her knees and tried to lever herself into standing. Her knees were wobbly, but thankfully didn't go out from under her as she finally got her bearings and took a tentative step towards Sage.

"It doesn't matter, so long as you can make it for a few minutes," he said shortly, beckoning idly with a hand.

His reluctance to answer her had her pausing just before she would have set her foot onto the icy ground in Winter's territory, and she gave him a sharp look of mistrust.

He sighed wearily, seeing the problem, and explained, "It is a Lodge of mine, just inside Unseelie's boundaries. I have herbs there that will be suitable for healing you."

"In Winter territory?" She really didn't like that idea.

"What is the problem now?" he asked, sounding a slight less patient as she dawdled uncertainly just between lands.

"My vow was that you never saw me in Winter Territory again," she reminded him. "I don't see it as very wise to go breaking that vow for a few herbs, no matter how helpful they might be."

For the first time in her memory, Sage looked so completely exasperated that, had she been more herself, she might have laughed.

"You humans," he muttered, taking one long stride back towards her until they were almost toe to toe with him standing in snow while she lingered in the leaves of Summer. "But I will give you acknowledgment for your consideration of your vow to me. But for now it is inconsequential."

"You're putting a void on my oath to you?" she asked incredulously, staring wide eyed up at him.

"For the moment," he agreed, and waved a hand for her to step through the trees onto his side of the divide, but she held her ground, still not completely sold.

"And is there a catch for this?" she inquired; eyeing the powdery snow at her feet like it might leap up and take her leg off if she jumped the gun prematurely.

"No," said Sage, again with that small bite of impatience in his voice. "Now, before I change my mind, would you care to follow me to the Lodge before the sleep deprivation robs you of even more reason or I am forced to drag you there because you lost the ability to keep standing?"

Surprised by his uncharacteristic urgency, Catherine gave the Winter prince an appraising look, which he noticed despite the fact he'd been glancing over his shoulder a moment before, and with a small utterance the sidhe reached forward and seized her by the hand, dragging her clean over the border into Winter territory.

"H-hey!" she stammered, trying to shake him off to no avail, especially when a large weight pushed forcefully on her from behind as Bane urged her forward. "I didn't agree to this!"

"You didn't have to," Sage told her in a low mutter, still pulling her along with one long fingered hand shackling her wrist, "I'm writing this off as temporary insanity and you not knowing what is good for you as a result."

"Okay, fine, but could you stop dragging me?" she asked, feeling her fatigue welling up faster than she could have imagined as she was forced to keep swift pace with the Prince, threatening to knock her down.

The prince glanced at her briefly, then around at their blindingly white surroundings, before slowing his steps and loosening his grip on her wrist, but not completely releasing her.

"We need to hurry," he murmured urgently when she might have paused to catch her breath.

"W-what?" she gasped, "Why?"

"Because there is a border patrol coming up and I don't want them to spot us," he said, beginning to pull her again while Bane scanned the area behind them.

"Will it matter if they can follow our tracks?" she pointed out, even as she tried to quicken her pace over the crunching snow to keep up with Sage.

"There aren't any tracks to follow," the prince replied, catching her off guard.

She was tempted to look back behind them just to confirm his words, but suspected that she would either be told to quit dawdling and keep walking, or, more than likely, trip over her own leaden feet and fall face first into the bitingly cold snow. So she kept her eyes straight forward and narrowed against the sudden wind blowing right into their faces as the hurried along through the darkened interior of the Winter forest towards whatever lodge lay waiting for them. She listened out for the sound of a patrol as they continued along, but when she wasn't able to hear more than the whistling of the wind through the trees and the quiet thumping of their feet through the snow she gave up. She guessed it would be better if she didn't hear the patrol, and that Sage had been alert enough to have detected his mother's men before they managed to get within sighting range of her and the prince.

They went a little bit farther, this time in silence as she didn't have the breath to ask any more questions and she doubted that Sage would have answered them anyway. And with every step, Catherine felt her body spiraling further and further into exhaustion, and was just about to give up and collapse in the snow when Sage came to an abrupt halt in the center of an unremarkable clearing, looking around carefully as though searching for something—whether it be spies or something else. Catherine, taking the moment to catch her breath, doubled over slightly with her free hand braced on her knees and took deep gulps of air, coughing occasionally as the bitter winter air tickled her throat.

"Are you alright?" Sage asked in what sounded like concern, looking down at her with narrowed eyes.

"Fine," she rasped, even as her whole body shook with the effort of just standing up, and she coughed harshly. "It's cold…"

She missed the brief smirk that curved Sage's lips as he muttered,

"It _is _Winter Territory after all."

"I hadn't noticed," she said wearily, not lifting her head.

She tried to pull her hand—which was still manacled by Sage's fingers—up to rub at her nose, which was pink and burned with the cold, but he didn't relinquish his hold, and she felt a vaguely familiar burning begin to take place under her skin in the place where he was touching her.

"Could I have my arm back?" she asked.

"In a moment," he said distractedly, and when she turned her head to peer up at him, it was to see the prince looking at a particularly large tree to his left with a thoughtful expression. She was about to ask him what was so fascinating about the gigantic woodwork when he reached out with his hand and ran his index finger down a groove in the bark that almost looked like it had been cut there.

For a split second, absolutely nothing happened, then, right before her amazed eyes, the glowing outline of a door appeared in the wood, looking very much like it was being illuminated from the inside and shining outward, and as she stared with her mouth slightly agape Sage reached forward again and gave the frame a light push, causing it to open into the trunk of the tree. Catherine immediately caught the aroma of burning incense, mixed with something like peppermint, and glimpsed the inside of a spacious room covered in dark fur rugs and throws, and scattered with comfortable looking armchairs and cushions before Sage stepped in front of her, still clutching her wrist, and pulled her gently forward into the trunk of the tree. Bane glanced back behind them, checking once more for potential threats and followers, then huffed quietly and stepped over the threshold as well. The hidden door swung closed and the wooden bolts clicked into place with a rather ominous finality. The edges of the door shone with light once more, then went dim, leaving only an elaborate myriad of carvings on an otherwise blank wooden wall where the door had once stood.

Catherine stared back at it in amazement, trying to make out the lines in the wood that had made the door's shape, but could decipher nothing from the carvings and seamless panel. The door was completely hidden from view, and she felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach to realize that Sage was probably the only one in the whole wyldwood who could open it again, from either the inside or the outside. Which meant for the time being she was now trapped inside a gigantic tree hideout with the eldest Winter prince.

Speaking of whom, the sidhe had finally released her wrist from his grip, though the unusual burning she was starting to associate with him touching her didn't fade, and she rubbed agitatedly at her skin, trying to stifle it with no real victory. While she did that, Sage made his way across the wide room to an area like a makeshift kitchen, minus the oven, microwave and fridge, and began rifling though cupboards stocked full of vials and jars of herbs. Bane padded up to his master, whining softly, and Sage murmured something Catherine couldn't hear so the wolf went off into one of the connected rooms to return a few moments later with a small leather pouch, which Sage rested from him with another low murmur and a ruffle of the canine's ears.

"Human," he said then, addressing Catherine, who had been staring around her in rapt fascination at the lodge. "Come here."

Catherine shot him a look that he missed as he was pouring out small amounts of some violet looking herb from the pouch he was holding. The guy couldn't even say 'please'? Then again, she already owed him a huge amount just because he'd not only put her oath on a temporary hold but also seemed to be trying to treat her insomnia in his own private lodge. She suspected not even his brothers knew where this place was, and yet he'd so easily brought her here without any fuss about it. Withholding a sigh, she made her careful way across the room towards Sage, feeling her legs growing weak again the closer she got, though she highly suspected that was because her momentary shock of discovering Sage's lodge was wearing off and leaving her high and dry.

"Sit," the prince commanded without looking up from mixing several herbs into a bowl, gesturing with the ivory pestle in his hand towards a small stool just to the side of the counter he was working at.

Rolling her eyes at his superiority, she gingerly perched herself on the stool and watched him tiredly as he continued to grind herbs and seeds together in the bowl, working efficiently until a fine, brownish powder sat in the bottom. He didn't speak to her, and she was far too tired to speak either, so she sat in silence, her eyes roaming over the cabin's interior while the sweet smell of incense filled the air. Over in a corner, she spotted a small bowl with a lit candle beneath it; it was filled with a glittering turquoise liquid that sent a thin vapor into the air, dispersing the smell of peppermint into the room so she inhaled deeply to take the essence of it into her lungs and feeling lulled.

Bane had curled himself up contentedly on one of the nearby furs on the wooden floor, though his amber eyes remained fixed on his master and Catherine. Behind the massive gray wolf, a fire burned cheerfully in the hearth, though rather than orange and red, the flames of the embers were a bright, sapphire blue, and Catherine watched with drowsy interest as they danced and snapped, casting shadows across the room, along with a subtle blue glow.

"So," Sage murmured suddenly, tipping the contents of the bowl into a beaker of vibrantly green liquid, "Why _did _you come back here?"

"Huh?" She turned to him with a bemused look on her face.

He glanced up at her as he began to stir the mixture vigorously, then back down at his work and said, "You came back to the edge of Tir Na Nog for a reason, and I'm having difficulty believing it was out of sheer boredom waiting for your guide to better himself. So what's the real reason?"

"Oh…um…" Catherine felt her heart give a rather violent thud against her ribcage, winding her a little as she turned her face away from Sage. "I don't know…I guess I just kind of wandered here and then…then remembered I wasn't supposed to let you see me in your territory so didn't go any farther."

Icy green eyes lifted to assess her face, but she didn't meet Sage's probing gaze, and instead feigned interest in another elaborate carving of a grand tree that marked the wall directly opposite her. She could feel her cheeks burning a little, though not from the cold, and hoped that the prince mistook the rosiness of her face as an aftereffect of being in the snow. He seemed not to notice a thing, and dropped his eyes back to the beaker and stirrer in his hand.

"I see," he murmured, and she felt a flicker of annoyance. He seemed to enjoy saying that, and though she didn't have a real reason why it bugged her that he did, it did.

As she continued to sit rather slumped over on the stool beside Sage, she felt herself growing inevitably tired again, and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, breathing a deep sigh and closing her eyes.

"You're tired," the prince said, and she heard the soft clink of the beaker as he set it down. "I'll show you to the bedroom."

That got her attention immediately, and she was sitting straight up, staring into Sage's calm emerald gaze with her eyes stretched very wide.

"Say what?" she asked, a little hoarsely.

"The bedroom," he repeated patiently, inclining his head towards one of the many rooms that connected to the main area of the lodge in which they stood. "You need to sleep."

"Not here, I don't," she said immediately, shaking her head, still stricken. "I thought you were giving me something to help me make it back to the healer's without collapsing."

"I am," he sighed, rolling his eyes at the ceiling. "It will help you sleep and then you can return to the healer's in the morning after you've gotten some strength back. You didn't think I meant some kind of energy booster to help you back, did you? That would only worsen your condition."

Actually, she had been hoping that was exactly what he meant, but now she realized how foolish that had been to hope for such a thing. Sage was as reasonable as the healer she'd been stuck with for the past couple days, and the elderly goblin had made certain Catherine understood the only cure for her current condition was deep, undisturbed sleep. Apparently Sage was echoing those sentiments, just without actually saying them. But, still, Catherine hadn't expected to be sleeping here in his private lodge, even if he didn't stay here. Something just seemed unsettling about the idea of even distantly sharing the same general living space as Sage. True, she'd spent the better part of a month in his actual bedroom back in the Unseelie Palace, but that had been a bit different. He had relocated himself to a completely separate part of the castle for her entire stay unless coming to check up on her progress and to make deals with Demon and herself about the terms of their stay. This would be entirely different. The lodge might be large, but every room was connected to the main one, and though she felt sure there was another bedroom located somewhere, it would be harder to feel secluded or cut off from Sage even if he chose to occupy a separate room.

But that wasn't the only reason she didn't want to spend the night in the same vicinity as the prince… For the moment, though, she was trying not to pay too much mind to her other reasons…

"I just," she swallowed hard, feeling her throat constrict slightly with the effort, and glanced frantically around the room, as though looking for a possible escape as Sage waited patiently at her side. She noticed the potion on the counter that he'd previously been stirring had turned to a deep mauve color and was steadily darkening to crimson, looking remarkably like blood. "I just didn't think you'd want me in here…"

Sage made a small noise that sounded resigned and shook his head.

"That is beside the point," he said. "The matter at hand is that you are ill and need treatment. You are too far away from the healer to make it back in a decent state—and how you managed to get all the way out here is a marvel, really—and so as a substitute I will treat you here and you can return tomorrow with enough strength that then she can continue to treat you while you and your guide recover."

Catherine mumbled incoherently, causing Sage's ebony brows to rise inquisitively.

"Would you rather I toss you out in the snow?" the prince asked coolly, to which she shook her head. "I thought not. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to the bedroom."

And with that said he swept around her, angling towards one of the nearest doors to the kitchen area, leaving Catherine to slip awkwardly off of her stool and follow him, trying not to trip over her feet as exhaustion bore down on her mercilessly. Sage opened the door leading into the room, then stepped aside to let her in first before allowing himself in. The room was pitch black as Catherine entered it, but her eyes adjusted almost immediately and she could see almost perfectly in the darkness thanks to her Cait Sith heritage kicking in. She could make out the outline of a grand bed against the far wall from her, adorned in numerous pillows and fur blankets. On either side of the large center piece, two nightstands stood like sentinels, each with an icy candelabra standing atop them. A crystal adorned mirror hung on the wall immediately to the right of the bed, and across from that a massive wardrobe loomed in the darkness.

Sage snapped his fingers and sapphire flames burst to life in the fireplace on the wall opposite the bed, nearly blinding Catherine, who hissed a little and cinched her eyes shut to allow them relief from the sudden light. Peeking through her lashes when she'd felt it was safe to look, she located Sage standing at the side of the bed, bending to light the candelabras with the same flickering blue fire, which issued from his fingers as he murmured softly in a language she didn't understand, but felt she had heard before.

"What language is that?" she asked softly as Sage straightened and turned back to her.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Fey," he said simply.

"Oh," she murmured, and looked away, staring into the now roaring sapphire flames in the grate.

"You do not understand the language." It wasn't a question.

"No," she admitted, slightly ashamed, and ducked her head. "Considering I've spent the past eighteen—almost nineteen—years of my life believing I was human, it never really came up with my mom."

"I see." There it was again. That two worded phrase she was beginning to detest so much.

Avoiding looking at the prince for fear that her expression might give away her brief annoyance, she continued to gaze sightlessly into the flickering blue flames until she saw movement immediately in her peripheral vision and turned her head to see that Sage had ended up right beside her without making a sound as he moved from the end of the room to her. Briefly, her eyes flicked up to his, wide and alarmed, and she felt heat creep up her neck to see his icy green eyes contemplating her from his towering height. She'd thought over it before, about just how tall he was, and had guessed a solid six feet, but looking up at him now from her feeble vantage point of Five-foot-three, she was starting to think she'd been way off. He looked so much taller than just six feet…but maybe it was because he was so intimidating that it only made him seem bigger. Either way, she felt insignificant standing there before him, and lowered her eyes quickly before she could lose her nerve anymore, finding more interest in the sodden toes of her Converse.

"You should change," the Winter sidhe stated then, seeming to notice the dampness of her clothes as well, and gestured to the wardrobe. "There are clothes in there that should fit you well enough. Just hang your other clothes near the fire to dry. You weren't in the cold long, but it was enough. Being as weak as you are, it would be only too easy for you to catch a chill."

She winced at his blunt observation of her vulnerability, but didn't comment and let him continue speaking.

"I will be back shortly with the medicine. It will make you sleepy almost immediately, so it would be better if you were already laying down when I bring it."

"Sure," she mumbled, biting down on her lip to keep from saying anything rude, and also to keep herself awake enough to remain standing. She felt herself growing more and more exhausted with every passing second, and just the thought of climbing into the large, inviting looking bed had made her knees threaten to give out on her.

Sage didn't say anything more as he swept out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him, and Catherine let out a huge breath of relief to finally be by herself again. Not even an hour spent in the prince's company and she was feeling all set to fall on her face, though that could just as easily have been that a week without proper sleep was finally catching up to her, and she hurried to change before the weakness could completely do her in. Shuffling to the wardrobe, already shrugging out of her cloak and sweater and shivering slightly as the coolness of the room circled her, she pulled open one of the enormous wardrobe doors and looked inside. There were numerous clothes hanging at the ready inside, many of them pitch black and shapeless, and others pure white and just as unremarkable. Not sure what to pick, she settled for pulling out the smallest tunic and slacks she could find, since everything else seemed made for someone more of Sage's build, and after shedding her chilly and slightly damp t-shirt and jeans slipped into the borrowed clothes. Mercifully, they fit, and though slightly cool as well were much warmer than her own clothes had been.

No sooner had she slipped into the new garments and carefully laid out her snow dampened cloths by the roaring fire, which wasn't quite as hot as a regular fire would be, but was at least warm enough to start drying her clothes, there came a light rapping at the door, alerting her to Sage's return.

"Come in," she called softly, already slipping beneath the coverlets of the enormous bed, her body becoming instantly heavy as she sank into the plush mattress and pillows.

The door to the room swung open, and Sage's frame filled the entire doorway for a moment before he stepped over the threshold, carrying an intricate crystal glass in his hand, which was filled with some shimmering midnight blue liquid that swirled with flecks of silver and black. A tantalizing aroma drifted over to her as the prince approached her, and as she inhaled she was reminded of a cool summer night, and there again was the hint of peppermint that seemed typical of the lodge. As Sage came to stand by the bed beside her, offering her the glass, she realized the smell was coming from the dark blue potion inside it.

"What is it?" she asked, even as she carefully took the glass from him.

"Nightshade," he answered quietly, watching her through his emerald eyes as she lifted the class and tentatively sniffed at it. "I added poppy to it as well, just to make it a little stronger, though it's half the dosage for a normal faery."

"Oh?" She glanced at him, and caught a glimmer of amusement in his gaze.

"You're aware nightshade is poisonous to humans?" he inquired, lifting an eyebrow and folding his arms over his chest.

"Yes," she said cautiously, giving him a skeptical look.

"You're half human," he informed her, as though it was news to her. "I wasn't about to risk your death by giving you a regular dose of something that is naturally lethal to your kind."

"Oh," she mumbled, glancing down at the concoction in her hands with a new sense of unease. "Right…"

"Drink it," he sighed, sounding resigned. "I've made sure it won't kill you."

Somehow, she trusted him at his word, but was still hesitant as she lifted the rim of the glass to her lips. What if it tasted horrible? Even tired, she was terribly selective of anything that was about to go down her throat, and sent up a silent prayer she would be able to stomach the potion without making a scene. Inhaling through her nose, she parted her lips to let the cool nightshade draft fall into her mouth, and felt a thrill as a thick, sweet taste fell on her tongue. She swallowed a mouthful of the potion, then lowered the glass as she felt instant drowsiness slam into her. Her eyelids drooped, and she quickly attempted to hand the glass back to Sage before she could drop it, but his hand caught hers, his fingers curling over hers to hold the glass firmly within it, and his voice murmured—as though from far away,

"All of it."

"I'm already…" she tried to say, but her voice was thick with sleep and she couldn't quite work her mouth properly, especially when she felt the cool rim of the glass touch her lips again and Sage's hand gently tipped it back, forcing her to accept more of the potion.

She didn't resist, not like she had the strength to, in any case, and swallowed several more mouthfuls of the cool potion before Sage murmured something quietly to her and removed the glass from her mouth, also resting it from her slack grip. She felt herself falling backwards, but stopped halfway and was lowered gently the rest of the way until her head hit soft pillows. She couldn't lift her eyelids for anything, and breathed a deep sigh as the fur throw was tucked in around her. She was starting to drift when a flicker of consciousness returned to her at the last second and she groaned.

"Demon," she murmured blearily, groping blindly at the blankets around her until she felt something warm under her fingers and clutched at it. A hand closed down around hers, and she felt the bed dip slightly as Sage seated himself.

"What about him?" he was asking softly, his voice echoing as though he was speaking from the end of a long tunnel.

"He doesn't know," she mumbled, turning her head with great difficulty towards Sage's voice, "Where I am…he doesn't know…"

"I will have Bane go to him tonight and inform him you are safe and well," Sage reassured her gently, and she thought she felt his hand squeeze hers before it slipped out of her loose grip. "Sleep now and heal. You will be well enough to travel tomorrow."

Everything was blackness after that, and she neither heard the Winter Prince get up and leave, or close the door behind him as he exited into the main lodge area.

As Sage closed the bedroom door to the human's room behind him, he sensed Bane watching him attentively from the rug by the hearth, and confirmed his suspicions when he turned to face his familiar to find the massive wolf watching him with a solemn expression.

Sighing, feeling suddenly very tired, Sage ran a hand through his long hair, pausing when it came to the thong that held his ponytail in place and quickly untied it, letting the jet black tresses fall untamed around his shoulders and face as he walked across the floor to stand before Bane, who pricked his ears attentively as he looked up at his master.

"I hate to ask you to do this, old friend," Sage murmured, going to one knee and burying a hand in Bane's thick gray fur, "But I need you to take a message to the Cait Sith named Demon, the girl's guardian."

Bane's amber eyes didn't so much as flicker with surprise at this request, and he simply bowed his large head to touch his nose to Sage's palm.

"He is resting in Summer," Sage went on softly, "Recovering at a healer's. I need you to inform him that the girl is here with us only for the night while she sleeps to regain the strength to return to him on the morrow."

Bane nodded in understanding, and as Sage moved his hand away from the familiar the canine rose to his paws and with a flick of his tail turned away to pad to the hidden door that led back out into the forest. Sage watched the familiar go, disappearing through the door and into the frozen lands beyond, and heaved another deep sigh as he was left to himself in the lodge. Running a hand through his hair again, and briefly allowing his eyes to close as he meditated, he considered what to do next. Really, there was nothing for it but to turn in and wait until morning for the girl to wake up from her sleep, since Bane would probably not return for a good few hours. Any other time, Sage himself might have gone to speak with Demon, the Cait Sith charged with protecting the girl, but he felt that he should remain in the lodge with her, should something take a turn for the worse. Also, Bane was more likely to slip in and out of Seelie territory without attracting a great amount of attention and much less likely to encounter hostile forces on the way.

So, that left Sage in the lodge with a comatose, half human Cait Sith, and nothing much else to do except wait or sleep. Sighing, the prince rose to his feet, opening his weary green eyes and making his way slowly back into the preparation space to clear away the remnants of the potions away. Waving a hand at the entire mess, vials collected themselves and flew away into their respective cupboards while the glass he had used to mix the ingredients and the bowl he had ground the herbs in became spotless and set themselves in a neat corner with soft clinking noises. With the cleaning accomplished, Sage leaned back against the wooden counter with a small sigh, and gazed unseeingly across the room at the sapphire flames dancing in the hearth.

A thousand questions and thoughts raced through his mind, though he didn't look anywhere near as pensive as he truly was. He was confused, tired, slightly annoyed, and, above all of that, curious.

He was confused to be certain. He had every right to be. He had never once suspected that after his previous, and supposedly final, meeting with the girl that he would ever actually see her again. He had, of course, anticipated that if she remained in Faery he would inevitably come across her if he was required to venture into Summer as he occasionally was for certain festivities. But he had not ever believed he would have the experience of encountering her again anywhere in or near Winter, and yet, there she had been. He wasn't quite sure what surprised him the most, even. Whether it was the fact that she had appeared there while he and Bane had been lingering on the border as well, in no particular hurry to be anywhere, or that she had remained there for almost endless hours, simply standing and staring blankly into the Unseelie Court's land.

He had been shocked to see her at all there, but after he had overcome that, he had expected her to linger only for a few moments or minutes before turning and leaving, but she had not. She had continued to stand there, almost in a stupor, and gazing across the border between Summer and Winter, never speaking a word. Her jade eyes had barely wavered, only sometimes sweeping the tree line, as though she sensed she was being observed, and as time had worn on, he knew she'd become most certainly aware that she was not alone. The wariness in her gaze had told him as much, and yet she still refused to leave, despite the knowledge that potential enemies had been lurking nearby.

From the first hour onward, standing out of sight of her, Sage had become curious about her motives or intentions in coming to the border, and, finally, when he had at last chosen to approach her, he had questioned her about her reasons for being there. The only problem with that was that he had not received the answers he had expected or wanted. She hadn't really answered him to begin with, just giving a vague excuse that didn't quite convince him of anything. He knew she wasn't lying about her guardian being currently out of commission, though he'd had to work to hide his shock that a Cait Sith had ended up injured. Any self respecting Cait Sith either hid at the signs of danger or was agile enough to make an escape partway through, but Sage had suspected as he spoke to Catherine that the Cait Sith had been injured in protecting her.

Given the girl was like the walking dead from lack of sleep, it only made sense that any kind of run-in with hostile fey would have gone poorly for her if she was in no fit state to defend herself, which made the Cait Sith even more responsible for her protection. And that was something else that fascinated Sage. Not many Cait Sith would so easily put their reputations or their lives on the line for someone else, at least not without serious compensation from whomever they were guarding, but from Sage's previous encounters with Demon, he had gleaned that the cat was getting no such repayment for his services to the girl, making their relationship even more unusual than a Cait Sith getting attached to a half human in the first place, regardless of whether she had ties to his race or not.

It was the one thing Sage hadn't managed to puzzle out in the time he'd known Demon and the girl in Tir Na Nog, and he had finally given up attempting to understand the connection between the two, as it did not concern him in the least. He might have entertained the idea that Demon was the girl's birth father, but Demon had informed him that there was no such relation between himself and Catherine, and Sage believed him. What reason did the Cait Sith have for lying? He was already very much disgracing himself by becoming a half-breed's personal caretaker, so admitting to fathering the girl would not have been a much bigger step into ill repute.

So Sage didn't much mind the relation between the girl and cat now. But something else had begun to nag at him from the moment he'd seen the girl standing on the border, and even more so when she'd refused to directly answer his inquiry as to why she had come back, and why she seemed completely unable to sleep. He remembered her in Tir Na Nog, and remembered she had not suffered such a lack of rest then, despite being in the heart of enemy territory, so seeing her so worn down now, after having escaped for the second time out of Unseelie land, was highly intriguing.

Sage blinked as his eyes began to tire of staying open for so long, and he sighed quietly again as he pushed off from the counter to instead take up residence on the largest pouf that dominated the center of the lounge before the fire, letting himself sink into the cushion of it and letting his eyes close. He lifted an arm to cover his eyes, and dropped his head back further into the pouf, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

The girl didn't want to tell him the real reason she'd come back, he thought to himself, a slight frown appearing on his mouth. She hadn't lied to him straight out, but she also hadn't told him the truth. And that interested him. What was it that she was so keen to keep from telling him? Did she find some kind of pull to the land that wasn't there for her in Summer? If that was the case, he might understand her not wanting to tell him so, due to the oath between them that prevented her from setting foot in Winter, but something in his gut told him that wasn't quite right. Cait Sith, like other fey, were also separated into the Summer and Winter factions based on the location of their birth, but that didn't tie them directly to their designated lands like it did other faeries. They could travel freely between the realms without any kind of difficulty, and most often enjoyed being able to traipse freely through the courts, so it didn't make sense for the girl to feel bound to one side or the other between Seelie and Unseelie lands.

So, land ties weren't an issue. What else could it be?

Rowan might have laid a curse on her during her imprisonment under him the first time she had been caught trespassing in their lands, but aside from Rowan being absolutely horrid with using his glamour in such a manner—other than to seduce whatever female happened to catch his wandering eye—Sage couldn't see his younger brother placing a curse on the girl that would keep her from fairing well outside of their land's boundaries. It just wasn't a logical thing to do, and Rowan, at least, had the brains to know that. And if Rowan knew that, Mab most definitely did, added to the fact that Mab wouldn't waste her glamour on cursing a simple half-breed for anything. She'd sooner leave it up to the dungeon guards to beat on the prisoner than expend her powers on something hardly worth her notice.

"No land ties," Sage murmured to himself, drawing the back of his hand across his tired eyes, "No curses…What else?"

From what he knew, the girl had no friends in Winter, considering her guide was really the only faery she currently had encountered outside of Sage, Rowan and the rest of the Unseelie Court, and there didn't seem to be a reason for her to feel any kind of connection to the people who had imprisoned and fairly tortured her for nearly a fortnight before she'd made her escape. Even if she miraculously did, her feelings shouldn't be depriving her so harshly of sleep. Sage's frown deepened as he sifted carefully through what information he had managed to glean from Catherine in their earlier conversation and what he'd already observed in her behavior.

She was totally exhausted, almost to the point of falling over, but hadn't managed to sleep without the aid of medicinal herbs. She had started suffering from insomnia around a week ago, given her estimations… A week ago… A week ago, she had left Winter after recovering from her injury. Before that, she had been able to sleep perfectly soundly in the chamber he'd placed her—his own personal chambers…

Sage's emerald eyes cracked open under his hand, and a short sigh passed through his lips as a startling revelation crossed his mind. She hadn't been able to sleep since the day she had left Winter after being cared for by him. When standing at the border and first spotting him, though she had clearly shown fear to see him and the nervous anticipation that he might lash out at her for nearly breaking her oath, she had not backed down or walked away. She had continued to stand there, though he had noticed she visibly weakened the longer they stood there until she'd been forced to sit down. She had not been willing to tell him the true reason for her venturing so dangerously close to his family's lands and she had also not been able to meet his eyes for more than a matter of moments if she did make eye contact.

To someone else, it might not have been enough to go on, but Sage felt fairly certain that he was on the right track when he contemplated that the problem with the girl's sleep, as well as her return to Winter, was due in complete part to the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about him. Vain it may seem, and completely unjustified to think so, but as Sage dropped his hand from his eyes, staring vaguely up at the blank ceiling above him he felt entirely sure he was not mistaken.

The girl, Catherine, had come looking for him, longing to see him again.

Now, how did he get her to admit to such a thing? That was the real question. Because he could ponder all he liked, but without direct word from her mouth, he had nothing more than his own speculations, no matter how right he felt he was.

Rapidly, he contemplated every different way in which he could get her to confess the truth of her reasoning in returning, but only one idea seemed completely fool proof with no possible loopholes for her to slip through, though he wasn't fond of it in the least. It was something Rowan was more likely to employ, but Sage remembered something his mother had once taught him: "Desperate times call for even more desperate measures. You use what you have over your opponent or you fail."

Well, he thought a tad bitterly, a dark smile curving his mouth as he levered himself up into a sitting position on the pouf, she hadn't been wrong, though he didn't like admitting it. His mother was a witch, in literal and figurative terms, and he had never found her unorthodox measures very appealing. Though, just once, he'd have to put aside his reservations and do what was necessary. He supposed it was a show of his upbringing that made him such a stubborn, under handed bastard, because any other faery in all of the wyldwood would have just given up on the whole venture of pestering a half-breed for answers that didn't even seem necessary, but he wasn't any other faery, and if there was one thing everyone knew about him, it was that if he wanted answers, he got them. Never mind their insignificance; if he wanted a response, he was given one, or he worked it out of whoever he was questioning.

A horrible trait, he reflected idly as he rose to his feet and moved towards the preparation area, already listing necessary items in his mind as he flung open one of the cabinets for the second time that night, but no one was perfect, regardless of what one wanted to think. He was no exception. And as he drew vials down from the shelves above him, he contemplated just what kind of morning he was looking forward to. Well, if one thing was certain, it would be far from a dull experience.


	5. Chapter 5

It was quiet, and it was warm, and though Nikki was well aware that it was nearing morning and she would seen be roused from sleep, she took the current opportunity to burrow deeper beneath the blanket swathed around her and heave a deep sigh of contentment as she rested in the peaceful darkness around her, listening idly to the chirp of crickets all around her, and the occasional stirring of the trees as the dryads shifted in their sleep as well. Even without being fully awake, she could fully appreciate just how calming it was to be here in Summer, in Faery. She had never slept so well anywhere else in her life…and she had never felt so perfectly at ease…

"Goooooood _MORNING, FAERY!_"

Nikki's eyes snapped open at once, her ears fairly ringing as she jerked upright on her bedroll, staring around wildly as, all around her, other life forms came alive, taking flight with screeches of alarm, burrowing deep into holes with frenzied scuffling sounds or, in Glitch's case, sitting bolt upright and cursing as he slammed his forehead straight into a low hanging branch directly above him. Tertius was also sitting up now, his silver eyes wide and alert as he stared around him in similar fashion to Nikki, who was caught between laughing and still being very much alarmed as Glitch fell back onto his bedroll with several choice words, clutching his forehead.

"I'm going to _kill_ that son of a bitch," the Iron fey hissed between his teeth, rolling back and forth in pain before finally sitting up—more wary of the branch this time—and glaring with murderous intent around him. Nikki had to stifle a snort as she took note of the very prominent bruise that had appeared on Glitch's forehead, and she had no doubt it would only get worse.

"Oh, don't be so crabby," said a voice suddenly, sounding directly over Nikki's head so she looked up in alarm to see Puck standing up in the branches of a large oak tree, grinning hugely down at them with his arms stretched over his head, his emerald eyes glowing with mischievous fire. "If you wake up like that every morning, it's no wonder you have so many people problems, Glitchy."

Cursing and muttering deadly promises of vengeance under his breath, Glitch glared daggers at the Summer fey, who ignored him as he spun a precarious circle on the branch he occupied, humming cheerfully to himself. Nikki just watched with her eyes still heavy with sleep so she had to blink several times and rub at them fervently to keep from drifting off again.

"Puck," she said tiredly, stifling a yawn, "What the hell are you doing up so early? It's not even light yet."

"Not yet it isn't," chimed the Summer jester, and took a death defying leap from his perch, dropping almost twenty-feet straight down to land with cat-like grace in a crouch right at her feet, beaming. "But it will be, and I can already tell it's going to be a good day."

"How can it be a good day when we're storming the Unseelie Court?" groused a voice then, and Nikki glanced over to see Trinity hauling herself tiredly into a sitting position, her ivory hair in disarray as she rubbed at her eyes and yawned hugely. "And how are you so damn cheerful this early in the morning?"

"It's his nature," said Meghan sleepily, apparently also roused by Puck's ruckus, though she didn't look so much annoyed as she did resigned as she stretched her arms over her head with a low groan. "Trust me, I knew him when we still hung out in the mortal world. He would come over to my house on Saturday mornings, climb in through the window and wake me up by bouncing on the bed."

"You would have slept the whole day away otherwise, princess, I had to do something to get you up and going, didn't I?" said Puck with a sideways smile at Meghan, who rolled her eyes as she pushed back her blanket and rose to her feet with a little yawn.

"I thought that was the whole point of Saturday," said Nikki, pushing a hand through her hair, which felt like a rat had been nesting in it and probably looked even worse. "Sleeping the day away, being lazy as hell…"

"Lies and calumny," said Puck with a little snort of disdain. "Saturdays are best spent raising hell on everyone else who believes they're supposed to be resting."

"Oh, really?" Nikki flashed a wan smile at the fey, who snickered and reached forward to pluck something from her hair.

"You look like you've been rolling around with a bunch of satyrs," he informed her as he lifted a twig and a couple leaves from her hair and tossed them aside.

"Gee, thanks so much," she said sardonically, reaching over to smack him smartly across the arm. "Just what I want to hear first thing in the morning, that I look like I went on a wild romp with a bunch of sex addicted goats."

Puck laughed openly at that as he finished removing the last of the leaves from her hair and leaned forward to plant a light kiss on her forehead.

"You're really something, you know that?" he said, still chortling, while Nikki felt her face flame with color.

"Ha, _I'm _something," she said in disbelief, reaching up to touch her forehead, "What about you? What the heck was that for?"

"All I did was kiss your pretty little forehead, don't act like I dumped you in a bog or something, chick," he told her with a wicked smile.

"I know what you did and I want to know why," she said while, off to the side, Trinity was watching the two of them with a slightly interested look on her weary face.

"Because it was there," said Puck simply, and poked her forehead. "See? Right _there_. Just asking for it."

"You're an idjit," Nikki muttered, slapping his hand away and giving him a half hearted glare to which he rolled his eyes.

"I've been called worse in the past centuries, believe me," he informed her, rising to his feet and nudging her with his toe. "Alright, then, up and at 'em, beautiful. We've got things to do. Courts to storm, friends to steal back, hell to raise."

"Is it Saturday already?" Nikki asked jokingly, not moving from her bedroll as she gave the faery a weary look.

"Pretty sure it's Friday, actually," he said, shrugging. "But Friday's just as good a day as Saturday to go raising hell in Winter. Now, up, up, up." He reached down to seize her by the wrists with every intention of dragging her to her feet, but Nikki gave a low groan and flopped backwards, letting herself become a dead weight until Puck was struggling to just get her to sit up.

"It's too early," she complained as the faery finally dropped her arms and fixed her with a dark look, hands on his hips.

"Pah," he snorted, and reached down to yank the covers away when she would have yanked them over her head. "You've been human too long, beautiful. Now get up before I _do _dump you in a bog."

"Mmm," Nikki groaned, yanking the little pillow she had over her head to drown him out.

"You don't think I will?" Puck arched a fiery eyebrow at her, bent over her as he tried to seize the pillow from her as well. "You obviously don't know me very well, chick."

"You can't pick me up," she muttered.

"Oh, now that's just the saddest excuse I have ever heard for not taking me seriously," said Puck in disbelief, rolling his emerald eyes, "And a challenge at that. Well, two words, chick: Challenge accepted."

Nikki's only warning was the feel of Puck's strong arms coiling around her waist before she was hoisted clean into the air, giving a shrill squeal of alarm as she found herself slung over the faery's shoulders, head dangling towards the forest floor. She gripped desperately at the back of Puck's shirt as she felt herself slipping, but he readjusted his grip and she was stuck upside down over his shoulder, breathing rapidly in alarm.

"_Robin Goodfellow!_" she shrieked, and Puck laughed aloud. "This is _not _funny, you put me down _right now_ or I will give you such a beating!"

"Now, now, don't go making empty threats this early in the morning, beautiful," Puck said, still chortling.

"It is not an empty threat, I will whoop you so bad when I get down!" she snapped at him, and slammed a fist hard against his back, given it was the only part of him she could readily attack from her current vantage point. "Put me down!"

"I'll put you down on one condition," Puck bargained, and she went immediately still, feeling her heart lodge in her throat.

"No deals," she said immediately, and he sighed.

"Alright, no down," he replied.

They stood there for a moment, she half expecting him to just drop her and be done with it, but when he continued to keep her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, she realized she was truly stuck…unless…

Peering under Puck's arm, drying to ignore the sudden dizziness rushing to her head, she spotted Glitch standing nearby, watching with a rather amused expression, arms crossed over his chest. The bruise on his forehead had gotten bigger…

"You!" she gasped then, pointing desperately at Glitch, "Glitch! Come here!"

The Iron fey raised an eyebrow questioningly and pointed at himself.

"Yes, you!" she snapped. "I said your name, didn't I? Hurry up and get over here, please!"

"Calling the Iron piskie to your aid, beautiful?" asked Puck, sounding amused. "That's really the best back up you've got?"

"Shut up!" Nikki snapped at him as Glitch meandered idly over to them, still looking distinctly entertained.

"Yes, mi'lady?" the fey asked when he'd drawn level with them, cocking his head to the side to see her face peering from under Puck's arm.

"Make him put me down," she said immediately. Glitch smirked.

"What do I get out of it?" he asked casually and she gave him a murderous glare.

"How about you get to take his head off?" she offered when the fey continued to grin.

"Tempting," Glitch snickered, "But, uh…I'm enjoying this a lot more, sorry."

And with that said the fey sauntered back to his original station and made a show of beginning to roll up his bedroll and other sleeping materials into his pack. Nikki continued to hang over Puck's shoulder, shocked and completely furious, while Puck snickered, causing her to tremble slightly as his shoulders shook.

"That little," she hissed furiously, glaring balefully at Glitch's turned back.

"Told you he was no good, didn't I?" Puck said lightly, sounding absolutely gleeful.

"You are even worse than he is," snapped Nikki. "At least _he _doesn't dangle me upside down like a sack of potatoes because I refused to get out of bed in the morning!"

"Aw, that's because he doesn't love ya like I do, beautiful," said Puck, and abruptly she felt herself being shifted, then tossed upwards—startling her so badly she yelped—until her feet hit the ground solidly and Puck was steadying her with a beaming smile on his face. "Only the people that really love you hang you by your ankles first thing on a Friday morning."

And he planted another kiss on her forehead while she stood there, trying to catch her breath enough to snap at him, though it was taking longer than she'd anticipated.

"If you're quite done, Goodfellow," said a dull voice then, and Ash walked up, looking resigned as he gave Puck a disapproving frown, "We need to make ready to go to Winter."

"Yes, my liege," said Puck with a dramatic bow in the prince's direction. "Just as soon as she wakes up a little more, we'll be fit to march. Right, chick?"

Nikki glared up at him, still breathless. Ash rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh.

"Just don't hold us up this time," he told his rival, his tone serious, "We can't afford to fall behind again if we want to get the girl out of Tir Na Nog by tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Puck said, waving a hand dismissively. "We'll be ready, ice-boy, don't worry."

Ash seemed like he wanted to say something else on the matter, but pursed his lips instead and marched back across the small clearing to assist Meghan, who was speaking quietly to Glitch and Tertius, giving them their orders for the day.

Puck watched the small troupe of Iron fey for a moment, his usual grin still plastered across his face, and then Nikki caught her breath and slammed her fist straight into his gut, knocking him flat on his ass with a yelp of alarm and pain that drew everyone's attention.

"Christ alive!" Puck gasped, clutching his stomach, eyes tearing as he stared up in disbelief at Nikki, who towered over him with such a menacing look that for a moment he cowered. "Ah, jeez…"

"Don't you _ever _do that to me again, Robin Goodfellow," Nikki growled at him, jabbing a finger at him, to which he cringed. "I swear, I will make you sing like a little girl if you do."

"Yes, dear," Puck said in an appeasing tone, holding his hands up in surrender and grinning meekly. "It shan't happen again."

"Better not," she snapped at him, then turned on her heel and marched over to Trinity, who was watching with an entertained look on her face and was trying hard not to smile. She muttered something to Nikki as the girl came up, and Nikki, in response, glared at her friend, who smirked before wisely choosing to busy herself with rolling up her blankets and bedroll.

Puck stayed down, feeling it was a might too soon to risk getting to his feet just for someone else to come over and lay him out, and instead dropped his head back into the grass with a windy sigh, staring idly at the dark blue sky above him, watching it turn a misty purple color off to the east. There was the quiet crackling of grass under foot, and Ash suddenly stood over him, arms folded over his armored chest, smirking.

"Having a good time there, Goodfellow?" the prince asked sardonically, to which Puck grimaced.

"You can't tell me her highness hasn't thumped you a good few times, too, your majesty, don't get uppity," the faery said, aiming a kick at the prince's shin, which Ash neatly dodged, rolling his eyes.

"I've never been stupid enough to fling her over my shoulder, so I can't say she has," the dark faery responded with a snort of amusement. "And generally she doesn't punch me in any case. I'm never foolish enough to incur that kind of wrath from her."

"You mean you're yellow, in summarized terms," Puck said snidely, pushing himself into a sitting position and giving Ash a taunting look.

"No, I'm smart enough not to make a woman mad," Ash corrected coolly, then nudged Puck smartly with the toe of his boot. "Now, get moving. We're leaving as soon as everyone's ready, and that means regardless of whether you've made up with your lady by then or not."

"Oh, she's my lady, is she?" Puck asked, cocking an eyebrow as he hopped to his feet. "Wish somebody would have told me sooner. Would have saved me a lot of trouble."

Something hard smacked him in the back of the head, causing him to see stars, and he swore loudly as he wheeled around to see just what had hit him. His narrowed eyes landed on Trinity and Nikki. Trinity was staring at him, mouth slightly agape, and Nikki mysteriously had her back turned to him and seemed very busy tying up her bedroll, double checking the knot to make sure it stayed tight. Puck rubbed the back of his head, scowling, then glanced down at the ground to see a fist-sized acorn lying cracked open at his toes.

"That's not very lady-like," he called to Nikki, who kept her shoulders rigid and didn't look at him. Grumbling to himself, he glanced around him to see Meghan eyeing him with an amused smirk, and Grimalkin giving him that analytical, golden eyed look he really hated seeing. Ash was busy speaking with Tertius, but Glitch was also looking at Puck, and smirked broadly when he caught the faery's eye.

"Yeah, and what are you lookin' at, Glitchy?" Puck griped as the Iron fey made his casual way over.

"Nothing much, just an idiot with a knot on his head," replied Glitch with a dark smile.

"Yeah, well you should see the shiner on your forehead," Puck sneered back.

Glitch glowered and subconsciously lifted a hand to touch the darkening bruise on his forehead, wincing as it throbbed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Puck said coldly, making to step around the Iron knight, but was stopped when Glitch put a hand to his shoulder, and he was forced to take a step back to avoid touching the metal of the knight's gauntlet.

"You know," Glitch muttered when Puck gave him a questioning look, "If you asked my opinion—"

"Which I didn't," Puck said tartly.

Glitch gave him a look. "Shut up for two seconds, would you, Goodfellow? You might actually thank me for this info later."

"Doubt it."

Glitch ignored the comment and went on, "You know your little confession last night wasn't exactly a private affair, no matter how, uh…'quietly' you thought you were talking."

Puck grimaced. "So…what? You gonna challenge me to a duel or something now?"

"Believe me, I'd love nothing better," Glitch said bitterly. "But not this time. What I'm trying to tell you is that if you expect her to take you seriously on what you told her, you might want to wise up a bit and stop fooling around so much."

"Oh, look who's suddenly an expert on ladies," said Puck, feigning amazement. "You should write a book. Hell, write a whole damn series! I'm sure they'll sell millions."

"And that is exactly your problem right there," growled Glitch, glaring at the Summer faery. "Everything is a joke to you, and while I can tell Nicolette enjoys a good joke now and again just from what I've seen, she's also got her serious side to her, and if you want to have any chance with her, you've got to start noticing her serious side rather than blowing it off."

Puck thought about retorting again, but, for once, Glitch had given him something to consider. He wasn't entirely sure how a light hearted joke had turned into such a serious conversation starter, but there were a lot of things he didn't get.

"So, you want to just sum up whatever you're trying to tell me, Glitchy?" he asked in an undertone, narrowing his eyes at Glitch, who looked exasperated.

"You confessed to her," Glitch said with a bite of impatience, and Puck nodded, "She takes that seriously. But then you joke about how you love her, even just a little bit, and she clamps up like a shell. She doesn't take it as a joke, Goodfellow, and unless you start following her lead on that you're going to end up looking like an even bigger fool and no one will be laughing _with _you then."

Puck frowned, and Glitch, feeling his job as an advisor was done, went off to check around the campsite and make sure they weren't leaving anything necessary behind. Puck continued to stand where Glitch had left him, contemplating what the night had told him, then glanced over to where Nikki and Trinity were sealing up their rucksacks and throwing them over their shoulders, chatting quietly to each other. Nikki looked over at him as well as she turned to walk to where Ash and Meghan were standing with Tertius and Grimalkin, and when their gazes met she blinked rapidly, looking startled, then blushed and looked down. Trinity looked back at her friend when Nikki failed to follow her and raised an eyebrow.

Nikki met her friend's gaze and shook her head, to which Trinity shrugged and went on to the rendezvous area with the rest of the group, smiling at Tertius as she walked up, and Nikki instead tromped over to where Puck stood, mentally running through any number of things he could say, and none of them coming up with good results.

"Uh," he said dimly as she drew level with him. "I should probably say—"

"Sorry," said Nikki abruptly.

Puck blinked. "Come again?"

"Sorry," she said, blinking up at him through large brown eyes. "For that little thing earlier. You know, punching you and throwing the acorn and crap."

Puck stared at her, and she stared right back, frowning uncertainly up at him.

"Ooooo-kay," he said at last, pushing a hand through his disheveled red hair. "I'm so out of it right now…"

Nikki glanced down, seemingly embarrassed, then back up and shrugged.

"Me, too," she admitted with a small smile. "Maybe we hit it a little too hard with the nightshade, you think?"

"It's entirely possible," he agreed with a grin of his own. "Maybe this is all one seriously whacked out dream and in a second the real me is going to wake everyone up yelling like a lunatic."

"Maybe," she said with a snicker, then she frowned, looking down again. He watched her, not sure what to say or if he should say anything at all, then she looked back up at him and mumbled, "Really, I'm not myself today, and probably won't be for a little while."

"Oh, yeah?" He frowned now. "How come? You worried about today?"

"That, too," she admitted. "But…I'm thinking over what you were talking about last night and all that…"

"Oh." Puck felt his face heat up suddenly, and, feeling put off, he scratched the back of his head, wincing as he hit the now tender spot where the acorn had hit him. "Well…like I said, Nik, I'm not about to make you rush decisions."

"I know," she murmured. "But…I take it really seriously, you know? I don't want to say something that I don't mean and end up messing you over."

There it was; the serious bit that he and Glitchy had just been so happily discussing. So, serious…He shouldn't be a stranger to it; he and Ash had a similarly fun-going and serious relationship all at once, so why couldn't he seem to get it quite right with Nikki?

"Take all the time you need, Nik," he eventually murmured, and when she glanced up in surprise at him he just smiled, his eyes warm. "Really. I know you take time with this, and, believe me when I say this, you could never say anything that would make me like you any less. Whatever your decision ends up being, you'll still be you, and I'll still be me. And this me likes that you."

Nikki's mouth curved into a brilliant smile, and he beamed back at her, reaching up to knock his knuckles lightly on her head so she muttered in half hearted annoyance and swatted at his hand. He chuckled and reached out an arm to yank her into a hug.

"Now," he said, squeezing her tight so she gagged, "What say we go raid a castle and save a damsel?"

"Sounds like a plan," she said, grinning up at him, though he could still see a flicker of apprehension in her chocolate colored eyes as she looked at him. "Can I punch a Winter sidhe while we're there?"

"It you promise you'll make him cry," Puck bargained.

"Deal," she said, beaming.

"Hey, you two, take this a little more seriously, would you?" Trinity's sharp voice broke into their conversation and Puck made a face that Nikki snickered at as they turned to face Tri's severe blue gaze. "The whole point is that we don't end up fighting any Winter sidhes on the way there or back, so discreteness if hugely appreciated, okay?"

"We were just kidding, Tri, alright?" Nikki said, flashing her friend a reassuring smile. "I promise, we'll only punch the sidhes if they attack us first."

"Just don't let them attack you," Trinity warned her friend seriously, and her blue eyes flashed with worry. "I'm serious, Nik, I don't want either you or Cat getting hurt on the break out."

"I know, hon, don't worry," Nikki said, reaching out to pat her friend on the arm. "We'll be good."

"Sure we will," said Puck jovially, grinning at Trinity. Once the girl had turned away with a roll of her eyes he leaned down to Nikki and muttered, "We won't really, will we? We're still gonna make a few Winter faeries cry, right?"

Nikki snorted with laughter and elbowed him in the ribs to which he grinned and winked in his playful manner as they made their way over to where the remainder of the group was already clustered around Ash and Meghan. Grimalkin glanced over as Puck and Nikki walked up, his yellow eyes bored, and Glitch also looked up, catching Puck's eye and giving him a grin and a brief thumbs up when he noticed Puck's arm resting lightly over Nikki's shoulders. Puck stuck out his tongue in response and Glitch sneered, putting things right back to normal between them.

"Cut it out, guys, we're about to leave and I don't need you causing trouble on the way," Ash said, catching the silent exchange between his lieutenant and his rival, and Puck saluted while Glitch sighed. "Now, based on how Goodfellow broke up the groups last night, each group has at least one person who is capable of getting through the Unseelie Court with minimal to no detection. Also, each group has two adept fighters and at least one person to scan for trouble in case it comes. Grimalkin," he addressed the Cait Sith directly, "I know how much you like to go vanishing at the first sign of danger, but this time we need you to stay in sight and at least give a direction to run if something comes at us."

Grimalkin didn't look at all interested as he twitched his whiskers, his lazy yellow gaze assessing the prince's hard stare before he asked, "I am already doing a big enough thing for your merry band as a favor to you, prince, but nowhere in our agreement was there the statement that you required me to remain in the line of fire should it happen upon us."

"You mean you'd just up and disappear on us?" Nikki asked, stunned as she turned her head to fix the cat with a startled glare.

Grimalkin yawned. "Don't be so dim, human," he said, "I would, of course, come back once you had managed to hold off the advance and freed your friend, but my main purpose is to get you all into the Unseelie palace and out again, not to fight your battles for you."

"I should have mentioned before that Cait Siths, as a rule, are huge cowards," Puck informed Nikki dryly, giving Grimalkin a disgusted look. "He'll vanish the minute his kitty senses start tingling and won't come back until the coast is all clear."

"Grim, come on," said Meghan in annoyance, her gaze imploring the cat who was fixing Puck with a rather evil look. "We really need your help for this. If you just vanish and leave your group at large in the castle, how do you expect them to make it out?"

"Goodfellow is more than adept for the task of navigation as well as battle," said Grimalkin, unconcerned. "Let him take care of it."

"Why are you even here?" Glitch asked idly, cocking an eyebrow at the cat.

Grimalkin ignored him and went to the duty of washing his tail. Puck snorted derisively and rolled his eyes, muttering about useless felines while Nikki frowned in disappointment. She'd thought the whole point of Grimalkin being there was that he would do what Ash asked, and Ash was asking him to go into the castle, stay visible during danger, and help them out if they ran into more than they could handle. Apparently, she was expecting too much out of the Cait Sith. He was just as lazy and unhelpful as a regular cat was…

"Alright," sighed Ash, sounding drawn as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Grimalkin, you'll go into the castle and lead the way so far as you can without prematurely disappearing, and then you'll lead your group out if something should happen to Goodfellow. That's the deal."

"Very well, prince," replied Grimalkin uncaringly while Puck looked slightly affronted.

"What makes you think something's going to happen to me?" he demanded of Ash, who raised a dark eyebrow.

"Because it always does," the prince said dully before turning away. "Let's go. The sooner we move, the sooner we get there and out."

"Yes, your highness," sneered Puck, still clearly feeling put down, and Nikki rolled her eyes as the faery grumbled sullenly to himself as they set out as one into the forest, which was slowly growing lighter as the sun came up in the east. It was still very dark out, but at least she could see more than a few feet in front of her, and even without that, Puck kept his arm firmly around her shoulders, guiding her through the darker areas she couldn't penetrate by herself.

Ahead of her, Trinity and Tertius walked along in silence behind Ash and Meghan. Behind her, she could hear Glitch's soft footfalls, and she could only assume Grimalkin was there as well, though she couldn't hear the Cait Sith moving through the undergrowth. As they marched along in the muted darkness, and the realization that they were finally about to breach enemy territory to rescue Catherine washed over her, Nikki felt her heart begin to speed up in her chest until she could feel it jack hammering against her ribs, leaving her a little breathless as she tread carefully along beside Puck. In her mind, she was already envisioning millions of different scenarios. Good and bad. The worst one being they got into the castle only to discover it had all been a trap, and being captured and locked up for execution at dawn. The best being they snuck in, found Catherine in two seconds, popped the lock and got back out, though that one seemed a little more farfetched.

All that really mattered to her, though, was that they _did _find Catherine, safe and whole, and all of them got back out just as safe and whole as when they'd gone in.

Swallowing a lump forming in her throat, Nikki started slightly when Puck gave her shoulders a light squeeze, and looked up at him through the darkness to see him watching her attentively. He smiled slightly when their eyes met and squeezed her shoulders again.

"Nervous?" he asked.

She hesitated, opening her mouth to respond, felt her mouth go dry, swallowed, and nodded.

"Don't worry," he said softly, his green eyes seeming to glow in the surrounding blackness. "We'll find her, Nik, and we'll all get out in one piece. It'll be easier than making ice-boy up there crack a smile."

Nikki smiled feebly and nodded. "I have a vivid imagination, though," she explained in a quiet voice. "I keep imagining all the things that could happen…whether they're good or bad…"

"Don't think," he advised her seriously. "Just go with it. Really, in Faery, the best thing to do in a situation like this is to go with your gut and let it take you the whole way."

"So stop thinking?" she asked, a little sarcastically.

"Exactly," he agreed, smirking. "It works great for me."

"I can imagine it does," she said in a wry voice, to which he jammed his finger into her ribs so she squeaked and squirmed out of his grip.

He snickered when she smacked his arm in annoyance, then dropped his arm comfortably back over her shoulders once more, flashing a cheeky grin and waving at Ash when the prince glanced back to give them a reprimanding glare.

"We'd be best to shut up now, I suppose," Puck said when the prince had turned away at a soft murmur from Meghan. "His iciness won't take much of our shenanigans the closer we get to Winter and he can get right foul when you put him in the wrong mood."

"You would know," Nikki muttered to him.

"I would," he confirmed with a solemn nod. "Trust me, beautiful, an acorn to the head might not be your Sunday afternoon picnic, but it's like a bouquet of roses next to an icicle to the gut."

Nikki winced at the idea of a large ice spear jutting out of Puck's gut, blood dripping from his mouth, and quickly shook her head to be rid of the image. She knew Ash and Puck had a less than friendly history together, but she seriously doubted the prince had ever struck so harsh a blow to his rival. Puck wouldn't stand to be in his company otherwise, regardless of the circumstance.

"You really know how to get on people's bad side, don't you?" she asked him as the ducked under a couple of low hanging branches.

"It's a gift," he said with a wink. "And it makes life so much more fun."

"Riiiight," she said, smirking.

"You don't believe me," he said, feigning shocked hurt.

"Nah, I believe you," she said, still grinning broadly, "I just can't imagine how much fun it is to be on the receiving end of the Summer Queen's wrath once she woke up from being in love with an ass and finding out it was your fault."

Puck grimaced at the memory of Titania's fury after the whole love affair had gone south and Oberon had admitted that it had been Puck's own foolishness that had led to it in the first place. Humans always assumed Midsummer Night's Dream ended up with sparkles and joy, but they never remembered to mention the epilogue, where Puck had spent the next few years as a chipmunk and hiding from Titania's blood hounds. It had not been a good time to be him, not to mention all the weight he'd put on eating those acorns and walnuts.

"I like not to think about that," he said uneasily when he'd shaken himself out of his stupor. "It was not a fun five years after that…"

"She turn you into a horny toad?" Nikki joked with a snicker.

"Ha, don't I wish I'd been that lucky?" snorted Puck. "No, I ended up a chipmunk. You know, they don't have it as easy as you might think."

"I imagine not," Nikki said idly. "It's a miracle you survived those five years, all furry and cute and chubby."

"Hey, now," he said warningly, narrowing his eyes at her. "I only put on a tiny little weight because of all those nuts, but I was _not _chubby."

"Sure you weren't," snickered Nikki, highly entertained as she contemplated a pudgy chipmunk with fiery red fur and bright green eyes, his cheeks stuffed with walnuts.

"Shh!" Ash hissed at them suddenly, and Nikki might have given the prince a dirty look if not for the way Puck frowned and pulled her subtly behind a tree with Glitch and Grimalkin behind them. Ahead, Ash and the others had also ducked behind a large tree and were peering ahead of them at something that was moving in the darkness. It sounded big…

Feeling her heart kick into high gear again at the thought of a giant forest ogre or troll barreling through the woods at them, swinging a club, she leaned further into Puck without thinking, her hands fisting in his shirt, and stared with wide eyes ahead of her to where the rustlings of leaves were becoming distinctly louder. With a soft rasping sound, Ash had drawn his sword, which glowed an eerie blue in the dim woods around them, and Meghan had pulled her saber as well, twirling it easily in her hands. Wishing she had a weapon of her own as Glitch also armed himself and Tertius fit an arrow into his bow, she settled for clinging to Puck as the faery carefully drew his dagger from his belt and held it at the ready, his emerald eyes narrowed as he peered into the black interior of the woods ahead of them.

Nikki caught Trinity's frightened glance as her friend looked back at her, then nearly came out of her skin as something furry and alive brushed against her ankles. Cursing under her breath as she locked her arms around Puck's neck, much to his surprise, she looked down to see Grimalkin trotting easily into the open, looking bored.

"Grim!" hissed Puck, but the Cait Sith did not give any indication that he had heard the faery and continued right on into the darkness of the forest, where his dark gray fur caused him to melt into the background until they could no longer see him. "Stupid fur ball is going to get himself killed," Puck grumbled.

"I thought Grim disappeared if there was trouble," Nikki whispered, eyes wide as she stared after the now invisible Cait Sith.

Puck paused for a moment, processing her words, and then locking gazes with Ash, who had also heard Nikki's statement.

"He does," Puck muttered, and carefully put his dagger away. "So…what's he doing going _towards_ whatever this thing is?"

"Must you ask such simple questions?" Grimalkin's voice asked from the darkness, sounding bored. "Obviously, it is of no consequence to us."

"Well, thanks for stating the obvious, fur ball," Puck said sourly, stepping cautiously from behind the tree with Nikki still in his arms, scanning the tree line warily as the rustling sound continued almost incessantly. "Now, would you mind telling us what the hell it is, since we can't really see it all that well?"

A pair of amber eyes appeared several feet ahead, just out reach of the light cast by Ash's sword, and Nikki breathed a sigh of relief as it came forward, expecting Grimalkin to emerge from the shadows, but then something huge melted into existence there, and she almost screamed as she found herself mere feet away from a gigantic gray wolf with blazing amber eyes. Puck swore and drew his dagger immediately, pointing it at the monstrous canine, but Ash's eyes widened in recognition and he called to Puck,

"Hold it, Goodfellow! I know him!"

"Him?" Puck looked incredulous. "You mean '_it'_, ice-boy. That is most definitely an '_it'_. Not a '_him'_."

Ash ignored the comment and immediately sheathed his sword as he took a step towards the enormous wolf, which turned intelligent amber eyes on the prince and gave a low rumble of recognition.

"Bane," Ash said, and Nikki felt a flicker of recognition.

"Aw, fuck," muttered Puck, also realizing, simultaneously with Nikki, just what—or who—they were looking at. Sage's familiar, the tracker wolf: Bane.

"Prince," the wolf rumbled then, causing Nikki's eyes to go huge as she stared at the massive canine, who was bowing his head to Ash. "It has been a while. I am surprised to see you here so far into the wyldwood. I had thought you and your queen were settled in the Iron Kingdom."

"We are," Ash responded quietly, "But, at the moment, we are looking for someone."

Meghan looked frantically at Ash, her heart in her throat at the idea that he was really about to disclose their mission to his brother's familiar when just the night before they had discussed that if anyone was guarding Catherine it would be Sage and Bane or Rowan and the Thornguards.

"Oh?" Bane's amber gaze was inquisitive as he sat back on his haunches to assess the prince. Even seated, Nikki noticed, the wolf was a good four and some feet tall at the shoulder. Feeling herself shiver in alarm, she huddled closer to Puck. "And you believe this person is in this area?"

"Not here, per se," said Ash carefully, his silver eyes narrowing.

Bane cocked an ear. "In Winter, then," the wolf murmured in his rumbling voice and Nikki winced. Was it that easy for the wolf to see through them? Then again, they'd been going in the direction of Winter territory, so it didn't leave much for the wolf to guess where they were headed.

"Yes," Ash agreed, and Meghan bit her lip in concern. What was Ash doing, giving away information like this to the wolf?

Trinity was thinking along the same lines, for she looked up at Tertius with wide, terrified eyes, hoping the Iron knight could give her some clue as to what his prince was doing, but the confusion and apprehension on Tertius's face was a mirror image of her own, and she felt no more comforted by it.

"Sire," Tertius murmured then, stepping up behind Ash, frowning. "What are you doing?"

Ash held up a hand to silence his right hand knight, and, though still frowning in uncertainty, Tertius dipped his head and stepped down, glancing at Trinity as the girl reached out to grab his wrist, her blue eyes wide with fear. He shook his head discreetly and looked back at Ash, who was giving Bane a thoughtful look.

"Where is Sage?" the prince asked at last, and Bane tilted his head.

"Why does it concern you, Prince Ash?" the canine asked in a low voice.

"Because it does," said Ash coldly. "I know you have no obligations to answer to me anymore, Bane, but this is of great importance. Where is he?"

Bane eyed the former Winter prince for a moment longer, seeming to contemplate whether or not to give an answer, before finally responding,

"Away in his Lodge for the moment. He sent me to deliver a message and I am returning there now. I only stopped to speak with you to inquire why you are so close to forbidden territory. You are no longer permitted to enter into Tir Na Nog, as Queen Mab has delivered her final word on the matter and ordered you dead if you cross the boundary. Either you are suicidal and seeking swift deliverance or you are embarking on a mission, as I am more commonly used to seeing you take part in."

"As I said, we're looking for someone," Ash said patiently. "Resources told us she was being held in Tir Na Nog at the Unseelie Palace."

"Is that so?" Bane sounded mildly interested now. "Tell me, Prince, you wouldn't happen to be searching for the half human girl, Catherine?"

"Cat?" Nikki and Trinity gasped as one, stepping immediately in front of Bane.

Puck hissed a warning to Nikki, reaching out in an attempt to grab her hand, but she evaded him, staring avidly at Bane as she asked in a quavering voice, "You know where Cat is?"

She could feel her heart pounding, and Trinity's face had gone pale as color left her face, though her eyes glowed bright blue with excitement. Bane turned his gaze on the two half humans, and Nikki felt much smaller as she met those intelligent golden eyes that stood taller than her.

"I do know," the wolf answered slowly, his eyes narrowing. Nikki's heart leapt and Trinity breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling choked.

"Where is she, Bane?" demanded Ash, his silver eyes fairly burning as he faced the familiar. "If she's in Tir Na Nog, you have to take us there to—"

"The girl is not in Tir Na Nog," Bane interrupted the prince quietly.

The group went silent, and even the forest around them seemed eerily quiet as Nikki stared in horrified disbelief at Bane, who was watching Ash, and Ash stared right back at the familiar, his face drawn and tense.

"What do you mean she isn't in Tir Na Nog?" he asked calmly.

"Just what I say," Bane answered patiently. "The girl has not been in Tir Na Nog for nearly a week now. She left eight days ago and hasn't returned."

Nikki's stomach bottomed out, and she felt suddenly dizzy, both with a sense of defeat but also sweeping relief. And as her breath came out shakily, she felt her knees go weak beneath her, threatening to give way. Just when she thought she might fall into the dirt, a pair of strong arms came around her from behind and she fell back against Puck's muscular chest. Her hands shook as she clenched them in the sleeves of his shirt, and she felt faint. Catherine wasn't in Tir Na Nog. She wasn't a prisoner, and, even better than that, she wasn't dead. She was alive. But now she was missing again, and Nikki had no idea where she was. It was a bittersweet victory, but she'd take it.

Trinity on the other hand didn't seem sold at all, and glared at Bane.

"Then where is she?" the girl demanded furiously, trying her best to be brave in the face of a monster wolf who looked like he could easily swallow her whole if he cared to.

"Beg pardon?" Bane inquired politely, perking his ears at her.

"Where is she?" repeated Trinity angrily. "If she's not in Winter, where did she go?"

Tertius moved up behind her, his expression concerned as he dropped a hand onto her shoulder, briefly capturing her attention.

"Mi'lady," he addressed her softly when she turned to stare up into his penetrating silver eyes, "It is likely the familiar has no information as to where she has gone. Even if he had when she left, it has been a week. Her movements would have become unknown to him." He lifted his gaze now to Bane. "Would that be correct, wolf?"

Bane narrowed his eyes at the way Tertius addressed him, but otherwise did comment except to say, "It would, knight. I do not know where the girl has been in the week that she has existed outside of Tir Na Nog."

"That doesn't matter," Nikki said softly when Trinity might have further demanded information out of Bane. "The fact is that she's not there, and she's alive. That's what matters."

Trinity turned to her friend, surprised, and found Nikki looking ahead of her with a kind of dazed relief glowing in her brown eyes. Nikki had a hard time showing emotions before the fact when there was trouble, but after the fact, when she'd gotten the facts, she was liable to crash and burn, just like she was now as she lay almost limp in Puck's supportive arms. And she also had a point. Catherine had escaped Tir Na Nog alive. Wherever she was, it was at least safe to assume that the girl was alive and well, just not in a place where they could find her. And that frustrated her. Sure, Catherine wasn't a prisoner to the Ice Kingdom anymore, but now she could be wandering around all of the wyldwood and they would never find her. At least when they'd heard she was trapped, they had a more solid idea of where to look for her. But now they'd hit a dead end.

And something else that bothered her now that she thought back on it was that just the night before, Meghan, Ash and Grimalkin had been running around getting information from their assets, and those assets had told them that Catherine was trapped in the Ice Kingdom at the Unseelie Palace. But according to Bane that had been little over a week ago that Catherine had been there and had since escaped. She might have thought the sources Grim and the others had had straight out lied, but then she guessed that it was more due to the fact that Unseelie Court would not want word getting out that a girl, and a half human at that, had managed to break through their defenses and escape. That would send a message to the entire Nevernever that Unseelie was weak, and she knew from Ash's stories and Puck's added tidbits that weakness was not something the Unseelie _ever _showed.

Still, it meant all the work that Meghan and the others had done, and the favors they'd collected, had been a total waste. Grimalkin, who had just then chosen to appear, sitting neatly atop a boulder just to the left of Bane, seemed to be thinking similarly to her, as he sniffed indignantly and muttered,

"To think I used up my favors on useless information…How irritating."

"Sucks not to know everything, doesn't it, fur ball?" Puck called snidely to the Cait Sith, who flashed a yellow glare at him but otherwise pretended not to take notice.

"It would have been to your advantage," Bane said then, and surprised the group by speaking directly to Grimalkin, "If you and your brethren made better habits of keeping in touch with one another, Cait Sith. You may not have wasted your favors, otherwise."

"And what do you mean by that, Wolf's Bane?" Grimalkin asked, narrowing his yellow eyes down at the gray wolf before him.

"The girl had a companion with her," Bane explained in his deep voice, "A Cait Sith who called himself Demon. A black feline with yellow-green eyes."

"Demon is it?" Grimalkin's eyes flashed in recognition at the name. "Who would have thought he'd play tag-a-long to a human…"

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," muttered Puck, glaring up at Grim.

"I remember Demon from many years ago," Grimalkin mused, as though he hadn't heard the Summer jokester. "He was always quite unusual in his ways…as I recall it, he spent a great deal of time in the Mortal Realm observing humans, as was his fancy then. Do you know if he was the one who brought the girl into the Nevernever?"

"That is the story he told me, yes," Bane confirmed with a small nod. "He had been watching the girl for some time in the Mortal world and only recently discovered the girl has roots here in Faery by way of her fey heritage."

"We knew the girl had fey blood in her," Grimalkin said, twitching his whiskers thoughtfully, "Was Demon able to discern which line she has descended from? Or at least from which group of fey she has been descended?"

"Yes," Bane said. "It is the reason he was guarding her here in Faery. The girl, as he informed me, is part Cait Sith, directly an offspring from a human mother and Cait Sith father."

For the first time that she'd known him, Nikki witnessed shock in Grimalkin's expression as the cat stared down in silence at Bane, who looked up with a calm expression.

"I was surprised myself," the wolf said, as though acknowledging just how startling the information was. "And at first did not believe it, neither did my prince."

"Sage?" Ash sounded surprised, though he should have known that if Bane knew something of Catherine, Sage would also know.

"My prince and I looked over the girl during her last captivity in Tir Na Nog," Bane explained softly, reaching with a hind leg to scratch at his ear. "She had previously escaped from Prince Rowan during her first imprisonment, but for some reason returned with the Cait Sith in search of her father, though why they chose to return through Tir Na Nog never made sense to myself or my prince. When we discovered her, she had fallen from a tree while concealing herself from Prince Rowan's guards. The Cait Sith made an agreement with my prince that in exchange for secrecy and healing, he would repay two favors, so long as the girl remained unharmed."

Grimalkin gave a small snort. "That Demon," he said, sounding scornful. "He never did know what was good for him."

"The Cait Sith could care less for himself," Bane murmured, his tone suddenly dangerous, and when Nikki turned to look at him she saw a deep glow of respect in the wolf's eyes as he went on, "He vowed anything to my prince in exchange for the girl's safety. His only concern was for her, as he took responsibility for being the one to show her into the Nevernever in the first place. My prince and I both greatly respect him for that, as not many Cait Sith have the gall to take such stands."

His last words were harsh as he glared up at Grimalkin, clearly suggesting that the gray cat was one of those less respectable Cait Sith he was thinking of. Grimalkin lifted his head high, clearly affronted, but said nothing to the familiar as Bane turned to look at Ash,

"In any case, if your companion was more willing to check in with his brethren, you would have saved the trouble of coming here to look for the girl, as she is still traveling with the Cait Sith."

"Then we just need to find him," said Trinity, feeling relief again.

"Yeah, easier said than done, chick," said Puck grimly. "You know how hard it is to find a Cait Sith when they don't necessarily want to be found? Even Grim will have a hard time tracking him down."

"Not if he is loping around with a human slowing him down," said Grim with a disdainful sniff.

"Currently, they are not together," Bane said, and Trinity gaped.

"What?" she exclaimed. "But you just said—!"

"I said they are traveling together," Bane said, calmly inserting himself before she could blow her top. "But as of now, the Cait Sith is resting several miles west of here at a healers, recovering from a recent battle."

"Then where is Cat?" demanded Nikki, feeling like she was on some sick roller coaster ride going up and down with no seeable stops ahead. Her heart had been so light a minute ago thinking they'd finally got a lock on Cat, and now here was the familiar telling her that there one hope of finding her was not currently at her side but shut up in a healers. Never minding how the Cait Sith had been injured in the first place, though she felt she should be alarmed by that information. If something could harm a Cait Sith, what could happen to Catherine?

"You humans are dreadfully impatient," muttered Bane, shaking his massive head in dismay. "Now, will you kindly allow me to finish speaking before you bombard me with any more questions?"

"Sorry," whispered Nikki, "I just really want to find her. You don't understand how scared we've been for her."

"I think I understand better than you are giving me credit for, human," Bane said, giving her a slightly annoyed look. "You worry for the safety of your friend. However, I assure you that currently she is safe and sound."

"I thought you said you didn't know where she was right now," Trinity cut across him, forgetting herself for a moment until Bane rumbled a low growl and fixed her with a pointed look to which she muttered an apology.

"What I said," Bane said patiently, "Was that I do not know all of where she has been in the past week since departing from Tir Na Nog. I never said that I did not know where she was at this moment, just that she has not disclosed her travels with the Cait Sith to my Prince or I."

"Oh," murmured Trinity, then, just as she was about to burst out into another question, Tertius had the foresight to gently cup a hand over her mouth, silencing her, and give her a warning look when she tilted her head up to stare at him.

"Let him finish," he murmured, and after a moment she nodded and he dropped his hand to her shoulder again.

"The girl is resting now," Bane said softly, looking up at Ash, who was watching the familiar with an intense look, "She was ill when my Prince and I found her yesterday at the border between Seelie and Unseelie territories and was not in a fit enough state to travel back to the healers where her guide rests. My Prince took her to his lodge and gave her herbs to let her recover and has made plans to escort her back to the border so she may then return to the Cait Sith and the healer's as soon as she has woken."

"The Lodge?" Ash looked amazed.

"What's the lodge?" asked Meghan in confusion, registering the awed look on her prince's face as she gazed up at him.

"In a nutshell, it's Sage's private domain," Ash explained. "A place that only he and Bane know how to find and only he can enter. Not even my mother knows where it is, and she knows once he's gone to it she won't find him until he wants to be found. Rowan tried for years to uncover it, even trying to follow Sage, but never could, and I never attempted to."

"So, what I'm hearing right now is that your eldest sibling basically led a perfect stranger to his most secret location?" Puck asked, caught between impressed and bewildered. "Was she blindfolded or something? Or did he knock her out on the way?"

"My Prince did neither such thing," Bane rumbled. "The girl was in very poor condition as it was and my Prince did not wish to leave her vulnerable to a possible border patrol on either side, as she was by herself and suffering from a week of insomnia. Needless to say, her mental stability would not have been very good if she had been left to fend for herself."

"Insomnia?" Nikki felt worry wash over her. That didn't sound like Cat at all.

The girl might have her few nights of rough sleep, but total lack of sleep was just not something Cat did. And if she did happen to go a night without rest, she'd spend the whole day sleeping to catch back up. So what was she doing traipsing around the wyldwood with absolutely no sleep to keep her up and running?

"Is she okay, though?" she asked Bane uncertainly, chewing nervously on her lower lip. "I mean, was she hurt anyway else?"

"No," said Bane, shaking his head. "Just sleep deprived. My Prince mixed her a draft of nightshade to help her recover before sending me to inform her guardian why she would not return last night. Quite a sight, I must say. Even with a broken forepaw, he managed to make quite the scene of himself getting ready to traversing into the wyldwood to look for her when I arrived. The healer was hard put to keep inside before he managed to hurt himself further. He settled once he had my word the girl was safe with my Prince."

The familiar curled his lip in a show of amusement, though Nikki thought the whole effect somewhat marred by the two inch-long canines she glimpsed as he smiled.

"So," Trinity said anxiously, "You can take us to her, right? And we can just take her and go pick up Demon and go."

"I am afraid that is not quite the case," Bane said with another small shake of his head, amusement now gone as he faced Trinity with a solemn gaze.

"Don't tell me," said Puck bitterly, "You need a bargain?"

"No, Robin Goodfellow," said Bane, fixing Puck with a glowing amber stare. "No bargains for this. The problem lies in that I am sworn to my Prince never to disclose the location of his Lodge to outsiders, no matter what the cost, even at the threat of death. The girl is free to go as soon as she wakes, and it would be possible for me to lead her to you, but I cannot allow you to trace me back to the Lodge, and if that becomes your intention, I will not hesitate to kill you to protect my Prince's secret."

And as though to make sure they knew he was serious, he bared his teeth and let loose a guttural snarl that had Nikki trembling from head to toe as she leaned back into Puck. Even Ash seemed wary of the familiar now, but said in an appeasing voice,

"We understand this, Bane. We will not follow you."

"We won't?" Puck sounded stunned.

"You really don't want to test the patience of a familiar, Goodfellow," Grimalkin advised him from the top of his perch, looking a little shaken from Bane's threat as his fur bristled, though his expression remained impassive. "If he is bound by his word to protect Prince Sage's private domain, he will die defending it if he must. It would be in our best interests to sit here while he goes to fetch the girl."

"And you _would _bring her back to us?" Trinity hedged, looking uncertainly at Bane, who bowed his head.

"You have my solemn word that I would," he said, "If—"

Nikki cringed at that word. It never boded well when used by a faery.

"My Prince permits me to do so," the wolf finished. "I follow his command. If he does not wish me to lead the girl back to you, than I am not at leave to do so. If he does not command me to inform her of your whereabouts that she may find you, or that you were looking for her at all, then I must follow his orders and remain silent."

"Oh, well, isn't that just peachy keen," sneered Puck, totally disgusted. "So, basically, it doesn't matter in the end if your master tells you to keep your muzzle shut, and we'll be back to following whatever leads we can get to find her. Is that about the size of it, pup?"

"Do not speak down to me, Robin Goodfellow," growled Bane menacingly, rising to all four paws so he towered over them. "I have been gracious to give you such information in the first place, and you are fortunate I was not ordered to keep silent regarding the girl."

"I just feel so blessed," said Puck sarcastically, narrowing his green eyes at the monster wolf.

"Stop it, Puck," Nikki said urgently. "I mean it. He's right. He's given us as much information and help as he can."

Bane glanced at her with appraising eyes, then away, towards Ash.

"Prince Ash," he said quietly, "I have given you all help that I can for now. I have even told you the direction of the healer's where the Cait Sith rests. Undoubtedly, when the girl awakens, she will return to him. If you manage to locate the healer, you will be best suited to wait there for her return."

Ash nodded in understanding, sheathing his sword at last.

"Thank you, Bane," he said to the wolf, who bowed his head in return. "We will go there now and wait for her. Do you know when she may wake?"

"I cannot say for certain, Prince," Bane said. "Though my Prince only gave the girl half the normal amount of nightshade needed for sleep, she seemed to be quite deeply under when I departed, and that was several hours ago. I advised her guide it may be as much as another day by human standards before she is able to wake and return."

"And at the earliest, if she awakes before then?" Ash ventured.

"I would guess another several hours," Bane replied, swishing his large gray tail. "Given the weakness of her body and mind, it is not so easy to know how strong she will be to shake off the effects of the draft. Even if she wakes, she may not have the energy to move yet. My Prince wanted to ensure she would be able to travel on her own back to the healer's before turning her out of the Lodge."

"Mighty chivalrous, your brother, isn't he?" Puck mused, glancing over at Ash. "Why can't you be as nice as he is? You'd make so many more friends, not to mention you'd probably smile more."

"Do shut up, Goodfellow," muttered Ash, glaring over Meghan's head at his rival.

"I need to be leaving," Bane said suddenly, breaking in on the minor squabble. "My Prince awaits news from me, and I am sure he wishes my assistance in looking after the girl."

"Bane, a moment," Ash said, so the wolf paused halfway to turning his back on their group, "I have one more question."

"Yes, Prince Ash." Bane's ears were perked attentively as he glanced back at his master's youngest brother.

"Because of this," Ash said slowly, "Does Catherine owe my brother any favors as a result?"

Bane was quiet a moment, and his eyes swirled with thought, carefully considering his answer, before he finally gave a shake of his large head.

"I do not know, Prince," he replied quietly. "That is the business of my Prince and the girl. If he wishes to ask a favor of her, he shall. He has done it once before, though he has, for the moment, put that oath on hold."

"Eh?" Puck's eyebrows shot up. "What are you talking about, puppy? How the heck do you put an oath on hold? What did he even ask in the first place?"

Bane's eyes flickered with annoyance but he calmly answered, "When the girl was nearing her recovery and preparing to leave the last time she resided in Tir Na Nog at the palace, hidden by my Prince, he approached her to make her swear an oath that after setting foot outside of the boundaries into Summer's territory that he would never lay eyes on her in Winter's lands again. When we found her yesterday eve, she was standing almost directly on the border between the two lands but moved no farther, as if remembering her oath, but when my Prince realized her ill state, he chose to temporarily overlook the oath in able to allow her to cross into Winter and be taken to the lodge that she may rest and recover. I feel he will let the vow stay in place after she has left, and that may end up being their bargain, but I cannot say for certain. As I said, that is between my Prince and the girl."

"How unusual," murmured Ash, his brow furrowing.

"What is?" asked Trinity uncertainly, looking over at the prince.

"For one thing," he said, glancing up at her, "Sage isn't one to demand favors in exchange for his actions. He either does them or he doesn't; compensation isn't an important factor for him. The other thing is that once a vow or favor is made or given in return, there is no such thing as temporarily voiding it. It either exists or it doesn't. Then again," he gave a small smile that was empty of humor, "Sage always did seem to have a strange mentality on the whole issues of favors and bargains. More like a human's way of thinking."

"You make it sound like an insult," Trinity observed with a frown.

"In many ways, it is," Puck pointed out. "If a faery can't stay true to their word, they're no better than the humans who so casually blow off any promises they've made because they don't feel bound to them. If Sage is casually just putting an oath he had Catherine made on hold, it's basically saying that either 1: he doesn't trust her, which is entirely possible, or 2: he could care less for upholding promises and such."

Bane growled low his chest, causing Puck to glance uncomfortably over at the massive canine, who was watching him with a very dark expression.

"But I'm leaning more towards the first suggestion," Puck said idly, keeping a wary eye on Bane as he carefully drew Nikki behind him. "I mean, come on, what kind of prince doesn't uphold vows and shit?"

"You are such a chicken," muttered Nikki under her breath.

"Well, s'cuze me for not wanting Godzilla-Scooby to take my head off," Puck muttered back, glaring playfully down at her.

"I will go now," Bane said, ignoring Puck now as he addressed Ash, who nodded. "I will speak with my Prince and tell him you were looking for the girl. In the meantime, I would repeat my earlier suggestion of making your way to the healer's three miles west of this location to wait for the girl. The Cait Sith may also be able to answer questions you might have regarding the girl's safety."

"Thank you, Bane," Ash said, and Bane, with a single glance around him at the surrounding half humans and faeries and one Cait Sith, turned in silence and in a matter of seconds had vanished into the interior of the forest without so much as a trace. Nikki reflected later that it was almost frightening how the wolf had disappeared in silence, though when he had been coming towards them he had been making all sorts of racket.

But she didn't dwell on the wolf and his apparently deliberate effort to get them to notice him, as she was too busy turning to Ash and looking imploringly at him.

"We should go then," she said, and he turned to her with a mildly surprised look. "To the healer's, to wait for Cat to come."

"Bane said she might not be there by today," Meghan reminded her gently. "There's no rush."

"I know," Nikki said, a little frustrated as she shrugged out of Puck's arms and stood in front of the Iron Queen, "But it's just…we're already so close and if she _does _get there today, I want to be there, just in case, for whatever reason, Sage tells Bane not to let her know we're here."

"She has a point," Glitch murmured. "Though I don't see the Prince doing something like that, we can't guarantee that he'll let Bane say anything about us being here looking for her."

"You're right," agreed Ash with a small nod. "We should go ahead to the healer's. It's not far from here and if we go now we'll be there within the hour and can wait with the Cait Sith for Catherine to return."

"Great plan, your highness," said Puck with a grin. "So, off to the wounded Cait Sith we go. Though, I do have a question we didn't manage to get an answer for from Scooby."

"He'll come back and eat you alive if he hears you say that, Goodfellow, I'd watch your tongue," Ash advised Puck in a weary voice.

"What was your question?" Nikki prompted Puck when the Summer faery stuck his tongue out at the prince in retaliation.

"Just this," said Puck, looking around at Grimalkin in confusion, "How the hell does a Cait Sith get injured in the first place? I thought you guys played chicken shit when danger was on the way, or is that another of Demon's little specialties that he isn't a coward like you?"

Grimalkin narrowed his eyes dangerously at Puck from his vantage point on the rock.

"I don't know," he said stiffly, "And to be perfectly honest I don't care how the fool managed to get himself wounded. I would assume by staying to protect the girl and ending up taking the brunt of an assault."

"And he continues to treat his cousin's act of bravery like some dreadful thing," said Puck with a deep sigh, rolling his eyes. "Just like you, fur ball, not taking kindly to any kind of oddity among your kind. Though, to be honest, I think I'm gonna like this Demon cat much better than you."

"Hmph," Grimalkin snorted in disbelief. "I doubt that. Demon is worse than I am when it comes to your people."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" demanded Puck, affronted.

"That a Winter Cait Sith like himself does not look kindly on fey of the Summer court," Grimalkin replied silkily, standing and arching his back in a stretch before alighting from his perch to land at their feet, his yellow eyes looking uninterestedly around him.

"I thought Cait Siths didn't side with either court," Nikki said in confusion.

"Generally, they don't," Grimalkin said, beginning to trot away into the woods, heading west. "But, as I mentioned, Demon is odd beyond his calling. He may not claw your eyes or tongue out, but he'll at least give you a good swipe if you speak ill of him."

"Then I'll be on my best behavior," Puck joked as he followed after the cat. "Wouldn't want to get cat scratch fever at a time like this."

"If he claws you, cat scratch fever will be the least of your worries, Goodfellow," Grimalkin called over his shoulder, sounding resigned. "You've apparently never experienced a cat's claw."

"I don't make much habit out of hanging around cats," said Puck. "I'm more of a dog person myself."

"Let's just get going," said Trinity, taking the head of the group as she followed behind Grimalkin. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get answers out of Demon."

"And just what are you hoping to glean from Furball's cousin, exactly?" Puck asked from further behind, raising an eyebrow.

"What the hell was he thinking bringing Catherine here," Trinity replied curtly. "And why I shouldn't strangle him for it."

"Always good questions," said Puck with a huge grin. "What were you thinking and why shouldn't I kill you for it?"

"If you're Tri, they are," said Nikki with a wry smile. Her heart felt much lighter now as she walked carefully along beside Puck, and for the first time in almost two weeks she felt relaxed. They were five steps closer to finding Cat than when they'd started out that morning, and the thing that really lifted her spirit the farther they walked into the forest around them was that her friend was safe and well, albeit suffering sleep deprivation, and with any luck they would see her within the next twenty-four hours.

Then they could put this whole kerfuffle behind them and maybe get on to enjoying the fact that they'd finally found a place to belong. A place to run around and enjoy and never age in. A place to call home. And they could call it home together.

A smile split across her face then, and with a small giggle of delight she skipped several steps ahead of Puck, who stared at her like she'd lost her mind.

"What the hell?" he asked when she danced back over to him, still beaming.

She shrugged as she fairly bounced in place at his side. "Just that she's safe," she said simply. "She's safe, and we'll see her soon."

Puck watched her for a moment with his emerald eyes wide, then they softened and he smiled down at her.

"Yeah," he agreed warmly, tossing an arm around her shoulders and dragging her to his side. "We will."

He went quiet for a moment, a thoughtful expression crossing his face, then frowned at her.

"Do you think she'll like me?" he asked seriously, and she had to laugh.

"She'll have to," she informed him, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"Oh? And why will she _have _to?" he inquired.

"Because," Nikki beamed up at him, "I like you."

For once in his very long life, Robin Goodfellow was totally speechless as Nikki reached up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek, and his face turned a very close shade to his hair as the half dryad went skipping ahead of him again, giggling as she latched onto Trinity's arm and the two girls laughed together happily as they finally put their biggest worry behind them. Puck watched them in a daze, a hand to his cheek. His skin felt scalded, but he didn't mind.

"Oy, you in there, Goodfellow?" Glitch walked up beside him, looking amused.

Puck shook his head, muttered something under his breath in Fey, and walked in a trance-like way after Nikki and the others. Glitch smirked, rolled his violet eyes and followed. This just got more and more interesting. If it was already this entertaining with two half human fey, he could only guess how thrilling things would get with a third added into the equation.


	6. Chapter 6

When Bane returned to the Lodge, feeling the prickle of warmth as the sun lazily crept over the horizon, it was to find the front entrance room in complete darkness, though, with his night-piercing eyes, this was of little concern to him and he loped easily through the pitch blackness surrounding him, angling towards the center of the room where a tall figure lay sprawled out across the large fur rug that dominated the center space. Plodding quietly up to his master, the great wolf sat back on his haunches, looking down through his amber eyes at Sage as the Prince lay with an arm across his face, seemingly asleep. But Bane knew better, and waited patiently in the silence for his master to acknowledge his return.

"How did you fare?" Sage asked softly, breaking the thick silence around them.

"Well," Bane replied. "The Cait Sith has been informed and has agreed to wait for the girl's return, though, in his current condition, I do not see how he would have managed to do otherwise. The healer nearly skinned him for being up and about when I arrived."

The flicker of a smile crossed Sage's face and was gone in the same instant. The eldest Winter Prince heaved a deep sigh, finally dropping his arm from his frost green eyes to meet Bane's steady gaze.

"You made sure to tell him the girl may not return for another twenty-four hours?" he inquired, rolling to his side and levering himself into a half sitting position.

"Yes, my Prince," murmured Bane, dipping his head. "Also, on my return here, I came across some travelers that may be of interest to you."

"Oh?" Sage was running a hand down his face, but turned an attentive gaze to his familiar, a jet black eyebrow cocked. "Do tell."

"Your youngest brother Prince Ash," Bane said and Sage's eyes narrowed, "As well as the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase, and a couple of their guard. I do not know their names. Also, the Cait Sith Grimalkin accompanied them, the Summer prankster Robin Goodfellow, and two other females; half humans. They are searching for the girl. They apparently heard rumors she was being held captive in Tir Na Nog and where making plans to storm the castle in order to retrieve her."

Sage's eyebrows rose towards his bangs, his curiosity piqued.

"I see," he murmured, his gaze becoming distant and contemplative. "And did you inform them of her current whereabouts?"

"I did, my Prince," Bane admitted, lowering his head, his eyes cautious as he glanced up at Sage's face, as though expecting a reprimand for his easy passing of such information. "However, they did not pursue me here, and instead are making their way now to the healer's to wait for the girl, as I told them she would be returning to the Cait Sith Demon once she had woken and departed."

"Hmm." Sage closed his eyes, thinking. "Very well. All that is left, then, is to wait for her to awaken. I feel it will be soon."

"You do not think she will remain under longer?" Bane asked, mildly surprised.

"No, I do not," said the Winter Prince, now rising to his feet, snapping his fingers so the sapphire flames in the hearth sprang to life, bathing the room immediately in light. "I checked on her earlier and discovered she was in the throes of a dream."

"A dream?" Bane looked even more surprised at this as he trailed his master into the preparation area. "But those who have taken nightshade are not meant to experience dreams."

"I am aware," said Sage dryly with a sigh. "Which leads me to believe that while I only gave her a half dosage in the hopes of preventing her possible death it would have been more prevalent to administer a full dose."

"Should we perhaps administer more now while she still sleeps?" Bane suggested.

"No," Sage murmured, having already considered this in the time that his familiar had been absent. "It will be enough to enable her to return to the healer's and receive the proper dosage there. I intend to tell her to notify the healer she will require a full dose."

Bane nodded in understanding. He watched Sage pull a large beaker from a high cupboard, noting it was already full of bright yellow liquid, and wrinkled his nose with a snort as a sharp tang filled the room.

"Daffodil," he grumbled, raising a paw to his nose to stifle the overwhelming smell.

"Indeed," said Sage, slightly amused as he glanced down to see his familiar recoiling. "Though she is not as deeply asleep as I had first intended, I feel she will still need this to help her get her wits about her before setting out on her own."

"You are not escorting her, my Prince?" Bane asked. "Or having me to escort her?"

"No," answered Sage, shaking his head. "She made it out here on her own without trouble; I see no reason why she should not be able to travel back in a similar fashion, especially being more alert than she was on her arrival."

Bane blinked once at his prince, then nodded. "Of course…"

Silence fell, except for the occasional clinking as Sage went about the preparation area, gathering several more ingredients and measuring them out carefully into the vibrantly yellow daffodil draught, which rapidly changed from the color of sunbeams to a deep turquoise, before finally—after Sage had sprinkled the last ingredient in—settling into a light silver color. Bane watched with an interested look in his amber eyes, and when Sage had returned all the ingredients to their proper place and set the beaker to the side, finishing his task, the familiar rumbled,

"Forgive me for saying so, my Prince, but I did not remember that last ingredient as having any nutritional or energy delivering qualities about it."

"That would be because it does not," said Sage, turning to his familiar with a humorless smile.

Bane eyed his master for a long moment, then dipped his head.

"So be it, my Prince," he murmured, then rose to his paws and trotted over to the rug that Sage had vacated, laying down by the fireplace and curling up, exhausted.

"Thank you for your assistance this night, Bane," Sage murmured to his familiar, watching the great wolf from the preparation area, his vibrant green eyes fairly glowing in the darkness.

"Anything for my Prince," the wolf replied in a low rumble, letting his amber eyes fall closed. Sage smiled softly at the familiar, feeling a subtle fondness in his icy heart for the fey that had followed him loyally for so long, never questioning him, always at his side. Then he sighed as he glanced down at the silver filled beaker just next to him, and frowned.

If he had been a better person, and he was no fool to believe that he was, he would not have added that last, unnecessary ingredient to the draft. And if he had any form of conscience now, he would have dumped the whole mess out and mixed a new potion for the girl when she was set to wake. But he was neither a better person, nor did he have the flicker of uncertainty in his conscience that made him feel any less inclined to give it to the girl whenever she woke later in the day. He had questions circulating in his head in a maddening frenzy, and he required answers to each and every one of them. He had already planned this through from the moment Bane had left his side earlier to seek out the Cait Sith, and he never went back on his plans.

It was weakness to divert from a chosen path once one had set it for themselves, and as a Prince of the Winter Court, he was no weakling. Those who wished to survive in Winter showed no weakness, and he was no exception. As the eldest, he had been hewn into the sidhe he was now from almost the moment he had been born. Though he may not have the vindictive pleasure in torment that his brother Rowan harbored, or the utter lack of self that had haunted his youngest brother Ash for so long, he was not any less a Winter prince, and not any less deadly than his siblings. It was for that reason that, as he stared down almost unseeingly at the swirling silver potion, he felt nothing.

No shame in his actions, no foreboding for the results of what was to come, no dread for the girl's reaction. Just the ice cold, rock hard acknowledgment of his decision. He wanted answers, and he was only ensuring that he got them. Nothing more, nothing less.

He sighed, raising a hand to cover his eyes, giving them a brief respite of the flickering firelight that cast the room in eerie light. He felt exhausted. That in itself was an oddity. He had spent countless weeks on a hunt, endless hours in battle against innumerable opponents, fighting to stay alive, and yet he could not once recall feeling as completely drained as he did at that moment, and as he lifted his head his green eyes were dulled with the weariness that was slowly creeping into him.

He supposed that this newfound exhaustion was due in part to his endless wonderings, as he had never spent so many hours in a day simply considering what could or couldn't be. And even if he had, not many of those wonderings had ever involved a female. Females, no matter their race, age or standing, vexed him beyond belief, and this girl was no different. Especially because she was half human, and he had never understood humans. He never cared to and probably never would care to learn more about what made them so incomprehensible. He merely accepted that they were and moved on.

But here he was, looking after an ill half human Cait Sith—yet another beast of the universe that never ceased to astound him—and it was hardly a wonder anymore that he felt so weary. A female, half human, half Cait Sith; three creatures he did not understand in the least, all combined into one tiny little body. A body that happened to be sleeping fitfully in the room just across the way from him. And that was another question he had to ask of himself, with no hope of finding an answer: Why had he let her be here in the first place?

He had brought her here, cutting off her oath to him temporarily to allow her to cross into his lands, and led her to a place that his own mother had no hope of finding. Sure, he didn't expect the girl to be able to find him again after leading her away, and she wouldn't be able to access the Lodge even if she somehow managed the impossible and did find it again, but still… It felt more than a little out of sorts to have brought this girl here. He could easily have treated her anywhere else in the wood, as there was nightshade readily available in any part of either territories, Summer or Winter, and yet he'd brought her here instead, risking exposure to a border patrol as well.

He must be going mad…

Sighing again, Sage raked a hand through his long hair, which still hung free of its tie, and after a moment's contemplation moved quietly from the preparation area to stand outside the door leading to the girl's bedroom. He paused outside, listening carefully for any telltale sounds from beyond, but when he heard nothing more than the faint crackling of the fire behind him and Bane's growl-like snores, he took hold of the handle and gently pushed the door open, peering through the slight crack.

The fire in the girl's room had dimmed slightly over the course of the night, but faery fire never went out completely unless commanded to and still shone brightly enough that he could just make out the tiny figure lying almost motionless on the bed, save the faint rise and fall of her chest as she breathed deeply, an arm flung out across the pillows, palm lying open, though it looked as though she may have been attempting to reach for something. Her face was lax and peaceful, her coppery hair fanning out in a short halo around her, the blue light of the fire highlighting streaks of vibrant red that he had not seen there before.

Abruptly, the girl stirred, turning onto her back with a small moan, and as he took a quick step backwards towards the door Sage realized he had actually stepped through the doorway to approach her. He blinked in surprise, feeling very much put off that he hadn't even been aware of his actions, and glanced behind him to where the door hung wide open, then back at the girl as she mumbled something incoherently in her sleep, turning again so she faced the other wall, her arms now tight against her chest as though she cradled something dear to her.

Her hair now covering her face, Sage couldn't make out the expression she wore, but a soft sigh and a slightly distressed murmur suggested she was about to be taken in the throes of a nightmare. He sighed, feeling even wearier as he approached her, pondering to himself just how potent the Cait Sith side of the girl had to be in order to be so resistant to a half dose of nightshade. He himself would have a hard time keeping his eyes open, certainly, but her human side should be making it near impossible for her to remain even slightly sub-conscious to her surroundings. Dreams or nightmares should not have had any effect on her, but apparently her fey parentage was more powerful than he'd given it credit for, and now he had to live with that less-than-wise call on his part. Of course, he would sooner have it be like this—that she endured dreams and other visions in her sleep—than have risked her possible death if her human side had been predominant and succumbed to the poison of nightshade like the rest of the humans would.

He came to a silent halt just at the side of the girl's bed, staring down with narrowed emerald eyes at the sleeping female nestled so deeply beneath the thick furs that coated the bed. She sighed quietly, shifting subtly, and he raised an eyebrow as she turned over once more, her right hand falling out until it skimmed the edge of the bed, dangerously close to brushing against his leg where he stood. He stiffened slightly as the very tip of her finger fell against the cloth of his slacks, a feather light touch that he barely felt, and his eyes widened as she mumbled something under her breath, then drew her hand back into her chest and curled up in a tight ball with her head partially obscured by the blankets that covered her.

He noted vaguely she looked much more cat-like like that, curled up into herself with her head tucked towards her hands, and felt a faint glimmer of amusement to consider that she was at least, in some physical aspect, living up to her fey heritage. Though, if he had to say so for himself, she had yet to display any of the proud, independent characteristics he was used to seeing in her kind. Really, he had hardly believed that she could truly come from such a proud line of fey, given she was prone to weakness, had not given any indication that she had harnessed the use of her glamour to either vanish or shape shift into her true form, and was one of the clumsiest beings he had ever happened to meet in the entire Nevernever, and he had traveled quite far and seen many things in his long life. However, a clumsy, powerless half-breed daughter of Cait Sith was not one of them.

Yet another way she managed to vex him. She did not in any way live up to her birthright…not that it should have surprised him, really. She was still half human, after all.

He breathed a soft sigh, letting his eyes fall closed briefly, then opened them to continue gazing down curiously at the girl before him. She was muttering quietly in her sleep, short phrases that even he—with his advanced hearing—could not decipher them. Her hands twitched every so often, and then tighten into compulsive fists. He watched her mumble and squirm, not quite sure why he was still standing there, then glanced off to the side, towards the door, as a shadow fell across it, and Bane's amber eyes glowed at him through the darkness.

"My Prince," the familiar murmured, "Is anything the matter?"

"No," replied Sage softly, turning away from the girl and walking slowly back over to the door without turning back. "Not at all."

Bane said nothing further and stepped back to allow his master by as the sidhe stepped through the doorway, pulling the door closed behind him with a soft thud. For a moment the two fey stood silently outside of the bedroom, listening to the soft crackling of the sapphire flames, then Sage heaved a sigh and made his slow way across the room to sink down onto a pouf sitting across from the hearth, his eyes drifting closed.

"Shall I remain awake to see to the girl should she awaken?" Bane asked quietly, padding over to stand over his master.

"No," murmured Sage, shaking his head. "I will stay awake. You have done what I have asked and deserve to rest. Besides, I would speak with her privately once she has risen."

"As you wish, my Prince," the familiar rumbled, bowing his head, and made his way back to the rug he had previously occupied, turning several circles before finally settling down with his broad back to the fire to warm him. Sage sat in silence, gazing at the wolf without really seeing him, his mind still rushing with all manner of thoughts and questions he, as of yet, had no answers to provide for them.

But he would get those answers; he was most assured of that. And, perhaps, he would get them sooner than he had first believed. As he was sitting there, fully immersed in his contemplations, a suspiciously loud rustling from the direction of the bedroom behind him had him immediately alert, and though he didn't turn his head, his ears immediately pinpointed the source of the sound, deciphering what it might be. He could hear a great deal of movement from the girl's room, followed by a quiet mutter that was much more audible than any before, and he could hear confusion in her voice, though he couldn't quite distinguish just what she had said. But that was irrelevant; she was awake.

He had not expected her to come to so quickly, especially right after he had just entered her room and had seemed very much asleep, but apparently she had not been quite as immersed in slumber as he had first thought, and, realizing the time had come, he sighed softly and rose to his feet once more, proceeding to the bedroom door. Hearing yet more distinct movement from behind it, he lifted his fingers to rap lightly on the wooden surface. Silence fell immediately beyond the door, and he half expected the girl not to answer and pretend she had returned to sleep, but was mildly surprised when her voice called uncertainly,

"Yes?"

"May I enter?" he asked softly. Another pause.

"Yes," she answered, her voice sounding slightly hoarse from sleep, but otherwise alert.

Grasping the handle, Sage gently urged the door open as he had before and peered inside to see the girl sitting up among the furs, pushing her hand tiredly through the mess of her hair, trying to comb it, though it was a vain effort. No sooner had she moved her hand away and looked up at him than the copper tresses fell into immediate disarray again, but she did not seem to notice as she fixed her bright jade eyes on him. Her expression was weary, but her eyes fixed on him attentively, very much awake.

"You are awake much earlier than I would have expected," Sage said, stepping inside and gently closing the door behind him.

Catherine felt her heart stutter a little as the Winter Prince pushed the door shut, but she did not remark on it, and instead met his piercing gaze head-on. She still felt groggy, and her body slumped with exhaustion, but she knew she would be awake from now onward. Besides, she had no wish to go back to sleep and confront the nightmares that had haunted her through the night. She didn't remember them now, but she did remember having them. That was enough motivation to sit up a little straighter, clearing her throat, and rub at her tired eyes.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked drowsily, lifting her head to look at the Winter Prince, who was lingering at the end of the bed, watching her. The firelight cast shadows across his sharply angled face, and seemed to shimmer eerily in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her.

"Nearly twelve hours," he replied in his low voice, and she felt her heart give another fluttery beat. "I had hoped you would rest a little longer, but it seems the dosage I gave you wasn't quite what you required. Your fey side seems much more prominent in you than I first assumed."

"Oh," she murmured, surprised to hear the words, "I…I guess that's good, then…sort of…"

She felt foolish that she'd uttered anything aloud, realizing just how incompetent it made her sound to say it, but Sage did not comment on her stammering and instead took a few more steps forward until he was towering above her. She had a brief flash of déjà vu, and her memory flew back to a stone bedroom tucked away in an icy fortress, and an immense bed with icy blue and black coverlets with Demon curled up at the foot. Blinking away the memory, Catherine tilted her head back to gaze up cautiously into the burning green eyes of Prince Sage as he loomed over her, his expression unfathomable.

"Did you tell Demon where I am?" she asked then, remembering Demon having triggered her memory enough to the night before when the nightshade had just been about to take her under.

"Yes," murmured Sage. "I sent Bane last night to inform him, and he will be waiting at the healer's when you are well enough to return."

Catherine breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said earnestly, "I think he would have lost a couple of lives worrying over me if you hadn't done that."

"Undoubtedly," Sage agreed. "According to Bane, when he arrived, your guardian was just about to go out on a search of his own to find you, despite the healer's attempts to keep him bedbound."

Catherine smiled wryly. That sounded just like Demon, too, all raring to go despite the fact he probably couldn't walk yet, and would have limped on three paws all over the Nevernever looking for her until he found her. He had a lot of spunk for a little black cat. She'd have to thank him for being so concerned when she got back to him.

"Thank you," she repeated to Sage, "Really. I know it probably wasn't how Bane wanted to spend his night, but it means a lot that you sent him to Demon."

"Bane did what was necessary," said Sage simply. "I would have done the same, but one of us needed to remain behind to see to you if something should happen, and it is much easier for Bane to go between the territories than myself."

Catherine nodded in understanding, then sighed, running a hand over her face and through her hair as she felt exhaustion creep up on her again. She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, but she still felt just about ready to lay back in the pillows and stay there the rest of the day and not move. But that wasn't really an option. She had already imposed on Sage's hospitality enough, not to mention she was basically breaking her oath to him by being here, even if he _had _temporarily voided it, and Demon was waiting for her. Not that the Cait Sith could really hope to go anywhere else in his condition, but the longer he waited, the testier he would become, and she really didn't want to make him worry any more than she undoubtedly already had. He could be in a right foul mood when he wanted to, and she suspected he would want to if she took her sweet time returning.

It was bad enough she'd all but snuck out of the healer's into the wyldwood without him being any the wiser. He'd probably woken up thinking she'd bolted, and even if the healer had reassured him otherwise, he had probably spent the better part of yesterday while she was wandering sitting on pins and needles about whether or not she'd gotten lost or eaten by something. So, the sooner she could get a grip on herself, wake up and get moving, the better.

"I should be going soon," she murmured to Sage, not quite meeting his eyes as she fidgeted with the fur tucked in around her. "Demon might know I'm safe here, but he won't wait forever before he goes off and does something reckless."

"I believe you are right," Sage agreed, watching her with his green eyes narrowed, "The Cait Sith worries for your safety and it would be wrong to stress him further, especially when he is wounded."

Catherine flinched as he mentioned that, remembering vividly just how Demon had come to be injured in the first place, and remembering how very much her fault it was. Demon worried for her safety, just as Sage said, and it was because of his worry for her that he had ended up injured. She didn't need to be the reason behind any more pains that might befall the cat. She'd caused him enough trouble already.

"And speaking of the Cait Sith's injury," Sage said then, catching her attention with his inquisitive tone, "How did he become injured in the first place? I understand it must have been through protecting you, but I do not believe I received any details on the whole affair."

"Oh, um…" Catherine felt her stomach sink. She didn't want to talk about this with Sage. For one, it wasn't really his business what had happened to Demon or how, and for another she felt she would only belittle herself further in the prince's eyes if she disclosed that she was the key cause behind Demon's brush with a cruel fate. "It's…kind of a long story…"

"I see."

She barely managed to keep from glowering as he said it. She hadn't even been awake for five minutes and he had already pulled that line. What did he really see, she wondered coldly? What could he possibly see from the words she was telling him? She doubted much, and yet he gave off this air like he knew the world inside and out just from her petty little statement.

"Anyway," she said, trying to keep her annoyance from showing, "Thank you for looking after me, and letting Demon know where I am. You really didn't have to."

"I know I didn't," said Sage, and she felt another stab of annoyance. He spoke so succinctly, but in her ears it was as though he was clearly reminding her that he had done her an enormous favor taking her in like he had. "But it was of no benefit to me if you were to die in the middle of the wyldwood. Especially considering Bane informed me there is a group of friends looking for you."

Catherine's head came up in an instant, as Sage had suspected it would, and her jade eyes stretched wide with shock as she gaped at him. He watched her calmly, waiting to see if she would react any further, but when all she did was sit and stare at him, her gaze eager and unbelieving, he went on calmly,

"Bane came across them as he was returning to the Lodge. They were very concerned for your whereabouts when he disclosed to them that you were nearby. Apparently, they were searching for you, hearing that you were being held captive in Winter territory. As I understand it, they were planning a raid on the Unseelie Court to rescue you."

Catherine's face blanched, and she felt her stomach flip over in horror. Though she had no idea who these people could be, coming to look for her, even imagining some faceless, nameless troupe coming to her rescue, invading enemy territory to do so, and facing off with Rowan and Mab, left her trembling, and she put a hand to her stomach as a wave of nausea set in.

"Who are they?" she asked in a shaky voice. "The people who are looking for me."

"I do not know the names of the entire troupe, but I was told it consisted of Robin Goodfellow, prankster of the Summer court, the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase, my youngest brother, former Prince Ash, a pair of his knights, a Cait Sith by the name of Grimalkin, and two half human girls whose names Bane did not manage to find out."

Catherine felt confused as well as distressed now. She had heard of Robin Goodfellow, considering Demon had been making it his daily job to educate her on the powerful and famous fey they were likely to encounter, and Robin Goodfellow, the mischievous Puck, had been one of the names that had come up. She had also heard a brief line or two about the Iron Queen, but not much more than she was generally not seen in either Summer or Winter, though she was the half blood daughter of Oberon. She had not heard a word about this Prince Ash, though, and was stunned to hear that Sage had yet another brother aside from Rowan, though whatever he meant by 'former' left her a little befuddled. And she had not heard anything either on another Cait Sith, though she suspected that Demon had not felt in of any immediate interest to tell her. Most Cait Sith kept to themselves and were generally never a cause for danger or alarm unless you happened to anger one, but that was exceptionally difficult to do.

As for the two nameless knights and the half human girls, Catherine felt she had no hope of finding out their identities, unless she could learn a little more about their affiliation with the troupe, and, perhaps, their physical appearances.

"Do you," she began, then stopped, feeling herself choke as her throat closed momentarily. Swallowing hard, she began again, "Do you know what the girls looked like?"

"I do not," said Sage, and her heart sank. "You would have to ask Bane, as he was there, but he did not inform me on their appearances."

"Oh." Catherine felt her heart lighten a little hearing him say so. "Then…where is Bane now?"

"Resting in the front room," said Sage, gesturing idly towards the bedroom door. "He traveled most of the night and is recovering now."

"Oh," said Catherine again, and frowned. "Then I won't bother him…it means a lot that he went out to tell Demon and it can wait."

"The group he encountered is heading towards the healer's now, as we speak," Sage went on to inform her. "They seemed concerned enough with finding you that Bane informed there where you guide rested and they have probably reached the healer's by this point if they started out immediately. If you do not speak with Bane before hand, you will meet them there."

"O-okay," she stammered, feeling a little alarmed by this. She wasn't sure if she should worry about meeting a group of unknown people when she returned to Demon, but she reflected that Robin Goodfellow was among them, and though he was Oberon's right hand man, Demon had also informed her that Goodfellow was not generally someone you worried about running into, unless he happened to be in the pranking mood, then all bets were off. But as far as violence went, the risk was scarce to none. She supposed if he was one of the people in whatever group was looking for her, she shouldn't be too worried. Though the reminder that the Iron Queen and Sage's younger brother were with him made her feel a little uncomfortable.

What did these people want with her anyway?

Sage sensed the girl growing uneasy with what he was telling her, though he suspected that the people looking for her meant her absolutely no harm. Just the way Bane had explained the situation—however briefly—made it appear the troupe was concerned with her safety just as much as the Cait Sith was, though why the Iron Queen, his youngest brother, Robin Goodfellow and a few odds and ends knights and half-breeds were concerned with another half-breed was questionable.

"In any case," he said then, folding his arms over his chest as she glanced up at him, "I suspect you will want to leave as soon as possible."

Catherine nodded. "I really need to get back to Demon," she murmured.

"Then I will see what preparations I can make to speed up the process," Sage said. "It is just barely light out now, and Bane informed your guide that you may be asleep for another many hours, as I didn't realize the dose I gave you wasn't quite as much as it should have been, so there is no hurry. Also, it would be unwise to rush, as you will still be a bit weary from the nightshade until it has worn off completely, but until then, I will do what I can to make sure you are prepared when you leave. I will escort you to the border of our territory, but no farther. I assume you can find your way back to the healer's on your own?"

Catherine nodded again. "Yes," she murmured. She didn't quite know _how _she knew how to get back to the healer's, given she'd been in a daze the entire way from there to the Winter border, but sitting there in bed, she could already trace the path back in her head, almost like she had a map ingrained into her head. Though she remembered something else as she glanced up at Sage's unreadable face, and chewed nervously on her lower lip as she thought over how to phrase what came into her mind next.

"My oath to you," she began, seeing the prince's eyebrows shoot up in curiosity, "I know you've voided it while I'm still here, but I'm guessing that the moment I'm over the boundary and back into Summer territory that it will go back to being the way it was. I won't be allowed into Winter territory?"

"Yes," Sage said immediately. She'd suspected that. "The oath has not been broken or sworn away, merely put on hold for the time while you were resting within our boundaries. As soon as Bane and I have escorted you back to Summer lands, it goes back into effect and shall remain so. You are bound not to set foot in our territory again, or I have every permission to kill you."

She had suspected he would say that, as well, but it didn't make the way he stated murder so easily seem any better than before. He said it curtly, without reservation, like it was something done every day, and, knowing him, it very well could be. He was a Winter Prince, cold all the way through, with no emotions. If he was required to kill to uphold his honor or an oath, so be it. He had no inhibitions to keep him from doing so.

"Alright, then," she said, and swallowed hard to keep her voice from trembling. "I had thought that was what you would say…"

Sage didn't answer, merely standing there, waiting for whatever she might say next, but when she merely sighed and glanced up at him then away, towards the fire, he realized their conversation was over.

"I will let you get dressed," he said softly, turning on his heel and walking away towards the door, only pausing in the doorway to glance back at her, "Are you feeling hungry or thirsty?"

She blinked in surprise at him, her jade eyes widening. She hadn't expected that.

"Uh," she said, blinking rapidly at him, "Just a little thirsty."

She said it meekly because she wasn't entirely certain if he was serious or merely joking about the hinted offer and didn't want him to suddenly smirk and laugh at her foolishness, but he did not. Instead, he nodded.

"I will bring you something," he said, then slipped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Catherine didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she let it out in a deep sigh, slumping over with her elbows propped up on her knees. She felt so worn out already, and she'd just woken up. At least she'd done better this time around than she had a week ago when she'd been locked away in _his _bedroom and he'd come to speak with her. That had been a very interesting and unsettling encounter. Probably because she felt super vulnerable lying there in his room, in his bed, with her enemies practically at the door with nothing really keeping them from discovering her except Sage's promise, not to mention she'd also had much less in the way of clothing when that previous encounter had happened. At least this time she'd had decently modest clothes, even if they weren't her own.

Lifting a hand to push at the fall of her copper hair as it hung in her face, she sat up and stretched her arms over her head, feeling her back give a few very satisfying pops as joints fell back into their respective places, then she pushed back the covers, shivering slightly as the lower temperature of the room swirled around her, and slid out of the bed to cross the cool wooden floor to the fireplace. Crouching down, she ran a hand along the hem of her jeans as they lay on the ground, smiling to find them completely dried out from their nighttime by the fire. Her shirt and shoes were also thoroughly dried, and she quickly shrugged out of her borrowed nighttime garments, laying them out across the end of the bed. She slipped into her jeans, fastening the fly and belt, then yanked her t-shirt over her head just in time for Sage to knock lightly at the door.

"Come in," she called, straightening her shirt and, catching sight of herself in the mirror, raking a hand through her hair in an effort to tame it.

The door swung open and Sage appeared, carrying a beaker full to the brim with a shimmering silver liquid that sparkled like diamonds as the firelight hit it, and an unusual scent crept through the room, smelling like flowers and something else she couldn't quite name as he walked over to her.

"This should help you feel a little more awake," he informed her, offering her the glass, "Though, since you are still a little weary, I would recommend sitting for now."

She took the glass in careful hands, and set herself down on the edge of the bed as she lifted it tentatively to her lips.

"What is it?" she couldn't help but ask, and thought she saw Sage roll his eyes.

"You inquire about everything I give you," he observed.

She couldn't help casting a small scowl in his direction, and found him with a slight smirk on his face.

"It's a general rule for me," she informed him coolly. "It usually helps keep people alive longer if they don't just wordlessly take something given to them."

"If I had wished you dead, human, you would already be," Sage told her. "I would not have humored you a night of rest and healing if my intention was to murder you at dawn."

"Not quite the point," she mumbled, frowning at the silver liquid she held.

"Then what is the point?" he asked.

"That I'd rather like to know whether or not I'm drinking some other creature's bodily fluids or anything gross like that," she said, idly swirling the glass and watching the silvery liquid twirl around the edges of the glass.

Sage sighed, clearly exasperated and said, "It is a draught of daffodil and other herbs. I assure you, I have not added anything more than a few berries and fungi, none of which can be found in the internal organs of a newt or any other creature."

He was clearly taunting her, at least in his way, though she could barely detect a trace of humor in his voice. She glanced over at him once more, and saw him still smirking, though there was no real amusement in his eyes, and heaved a sigh of her own.

"Alright," she said quietly, lifting the glass to her lips, ready to take a sip, when a strange odor from the potion made her hesitate again and she pulled it away to eye it thoughtfully.

"Is something the matter?" Sage asked calmly.

"Something smells familiar," she said absently, narrowing her eyes at the mixture. "I don't know…maybe it's the daffodil."

Sage didn't answer, though she guessed he really felt no obligation to reply to such a simple statement, though, if she'd cared to look at him again, it would have been to see the prince's frosty green eyes had narrowed to slits as she lifted the beaker to her lips once more and finally tilted it back to let the silver fluid fall into her mouth. She had anticipated perhaps a sweet flavor like with the nightshade, but when the bitter concoction hit her tongue she nearly gagged and it was all she could do to keep from spitting it back out. Instead, she struggled to swallow the mouthful she had, putting a hand over her lips in an effort to keep them shut, and swallowed convulsively, coughing.

"Jeez," she muttered, wiping her mouth.

"Is anything wrong?" Sage asked placidly as she held the beaker out to him, though he didn't take it from her.

"It's just really bitter," she said, turning her head away so he couldn't see the disgusted look on her face.

"Not every medicine is so appealing as nightshade, I'm afraid," the Prince said, and then nudged her outstretched hand. "And I am also afraid you will need to drink more than that."

"The whole thing?" she asked in dread.

"No," he replied, and she caught him smirking as she looked back at him, "But at least half."

Catherine glanced down at the daffodil potion and felt her stomach roil as she saw she'd barely managed to clear the top half inch of the beaker, which was quite large now that she looked at it. Feeling her stomach rebel just at the thought of having to swallow more was almost too much for her, but she forced down her nausea and, taking a deep breath lifted the glass to her lips again. It was just as horrible the second time, if not worse, as the potion slid down her throat, but she steeled herself and took it down as quickly as she could, just wanting it to be over with. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, praying she'd drunken enough, she lowered the glass, breathing deeply and coughing a little, and, glancing at it, was relieved to see she'd cleared the halfway point.

She immediately handed the glass to Sage, who took it this time and disappeared momentarily as he took it out of the room and back into the preparation area. When he returned, Catherine was still sitting on the edge of the bed, coughing, and wiping at her mouth, wishing for all the world that she had a Tic-Tac or something to was down the bitter taste that still lingered in her mouth. Her stomach was pitching in her gut, so she clamped a hand down over it, knowing it would eventually settle. At least if it didn't force her to reject what she'd just poured down her throat first.

"Are you alright?" Sage asked lightly as he reentered the room, moving to stand just beside her, looking down at her through contemplative emerald eyes as she hunched over slightly to ease the knotting in her stomach.

"That was disgusting," she blurted out, not thinking, and put a hand to her mouth, stunned. "Sorry," she said immediately, turning a wide eyed stare on Sage, "I didn't mean for that to come out."

"It's perfectly alright," Sage assured her with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he leaned back against the wall, arms folded over his chest, "I agree it isn't the most appetizing potion, and I added a couple of extra ingredients that might have made it a little less appealing than usual."

"Like what?" she asked, feeling her head spinning a little and she put a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes tightly. The odor from before—the one that seemed so familiar to her—was very poignant now, but she still couldn't name where she had smelt it before, or what it belonged to.

"Aside from the usual ingredients," he said, his eyes narrowing as he watched her put both hands to her forehead and double over with a small moan, "I added a small amount of belladonna and dragon's blood to the mix."

"Belladonna?" muttered Catherine, "Dragon's blood? Why would those be necessary?"

"They weren't," said Sage softly, "But I wanted to be sure that the spill-your-guts had some backing to it to work properly…"

Catherine felt her blood run cold as her eyes shot open. Spill-your-guts… The magical fungi that had the ability to make anyone that ate it answer any questions they were asked without them being able to stop themselves from answering unless they cut out their own tongue. Demon had barely managed to keep her from getting into some during their first visit to Nevernever when she'd been scouting for anything to eat, and had very adamantly warned her about the effects of the mushroom and to memorize the image of it well to keep from a repeat incident. Even now, she could still see the toadstool, big and spotted, as Demon pawed at it, speaking seriously to her about its effects. Not only could she remember that, but she remembered the smell from it, as the grove in which she'd found it had been completely overrun with the toadstools, and fairly stank with the odor of them. And that odor was now what permeated her every sense as she bent over, clutching her stomach and staring in horror at the wooden floor.

"You," she whispered, feeling herself beginning to shake violently. "Why would you…?"

"Don't think ill of me, human," Sage said calmly, and she felt the bed sink slightly beside her as the prince seated himself just to her left, "But I asked several questions of you, both yesterday and in the past few minutes, and you have failed to answer them as adequately as I had wanted them to be. I prefer hearing what I deem necessary, and you were not giving me what I was asking for. I considered having your favor to me for keeping you safe here be that you told me the truth behind the questions I asked, but I knew you could easily tell me the truth without giving me the real reason behind your actions. I was left with only one other alternative. I merely took up the opportunity."

Catherine felt sick, and her eyes were starting to blur and burn as tears welled up. Whatever reason Sage had for doing this, aside from the fact he wanted answers, she suspected the questions he would ask her were ones she would sooner die than answer, and that terrified her. Not just that, but she had trusted the Winter Prince, and he had betrayed her. She should have known better than to let him bring her out here like this, regardless of her state of being and the offers he'd made her. It was just like his kind, luring and seducing with comforting words of protection and aid…Just to lead up to this.


	7. Chapter 7

"Now, I shall ask you again what I asked before," Sage murmured, "Starting with how your guide, the Cait Sith, came to be injured, as I have never once heard tell of a Cait Sith permitting themselves to be placed in harm's way when the paramount thing to do would be to escape to protect themselves. He was injured protecting you, I am sure, but I'd like to hear more on the matter."

Catherine had been biting down hard on her tongue, near to the point of drawing blood, but that wasn't enough to stop the overflow of words that poured out.

"It was while we were going to Arcadia," she said, horrified at herself, though she couldn't stop speaking, "We ran into a group of redcaps and I wasn't able to use my glamour to disappear or fight. I was tired from not sleeping and didn't see the redcap coming at me from behind until it was right on top of me. Demon jumped in and clawed it to pieces, but another one jumped on him and bit down on his leg. He managed to kill it and get away, but he wasn't able to walk."

"And how did you get away from redcaps if you were both so incapable of fighting?" Sage prompted her softly.

"He used his glamour to transport us both," she went on helplessly, feeling tears gathering. "I told him to just go because he was hurt but he wouldn't leave. He said he couldn't leave me behind because he had vowed to protect me regardless of the cost to himself, and he would stand by that promise. He transported us to the healer and passed out. The healer took us inside and took care of him. She tried to get me to sleep but I couldn't. I kept pouring out the drafts she brought me and pretended like I'd taken them. I didn't tell her that I did, or why I did."

"Why did you?" asked Sage in his softest voice, his frost green eyes fixed immovably on her face.

"Because I didn't want to sleep," Catherine said, her voice cracking slightly. "Sleeping didn't matter to me anymore. It hadn't since I left Tir Na Nog, because—"

Before she could get any farther, she clapped both hands hard over her mouth, gagging as the words kept trying to tumble out, but were muffled, and Sage narrowed his eyes as he witnessed her resistance.

"It is not a wise idea to resist the effects of spill-your-guts, human," he informed her quietly, "And what harm is there in giving me the answers I want?"

But Catherine shook her head firmly and kept her hands tightly pressed over her mouth, feeling her stomach protest as she prevented the fungi from making her speak. She'd sooner throw up than continue speaking, but apparently Sage was not of the same conviction, and she started in alarm as his long fingered hands shackled her wrists, pulling her hands away from her lips with such ease that despite her hardest struggle she couldn't break away from him.

She bit down hard on her tongue, tasting blood, as he finally pried her hands away from her mouth, but she knew she wouldn't be able to hold out if he asked her another question.

"Why couldn't you sleep when you left Tir Na Nog?" the Prince asked her quietly, his eyes boring into her face, and though she bit even harder on her tongue, praying for herself to stop, the words fell out without stopping.

"Because I wasn't with you," she whispered, tears burning in her eyes, blurring her vision so she couldn't see Sage's face as he gazed down at her. "I couldn't fall asleep knowing you weren't nearby."

"…I see."

Those words again. She truly despised those words…

"And why did you come to the border between Summer and Winter?" Sage murmured, his voice lowering until he was practically whispering.

Tears streaked down Catherine's face as she fought to keep her mouth closed, but it was of no use, and her voice shook as she whispered,

"Because I wanted to see you. I needed to see you, but I knew I couldn't cross the border so I waited to see if you would come. I thought about crossing the border anyway, just to look for you, but I knew if you did find me you would kill me, so I just waited for you…"

Sage gaze down impassively at the weeping girl held in his grasp, his frost green eyes unreadable. He had thought she would say that, that her real purpose in coming to the boundary had not been for lack of anything else to do while her guardian rested himself, but because she had been searching for him. But that still did not entirely answer one other question he had.

"And why were you looking for me?" he asked quietly, leaning closer to her as tears continued to run unchecked down her face, "Why did you _need _to see me?"

He thought he already knew the answer, and was proven correct as Catherine hiccupped, choking on a sob, and whispered through her tears,

"Because I love you…"

So that was it, he thought, leaning away from the girl to eye her thoughtfully. Love. Or, at least the idea of love. Though she could tell him nothing but the truth, her truth was also altered to be what she herself believed in. She might believe she was in love with him, but the truth could easily be the same as every other female he had ever encountered that stated they 'loved' him when what they really loved was his power and his title, and everything he stood to gain as a Prince of the Unseelie Court. Somehow, though, he doubted that this girl's imagined love had sprung up from a craving for power and acknowledgment. She had no care in royal power or the title that would come with it. She was much too simple for such things.

So, where was her imagined love springing from, he wondered. What in her mind could possibly lead her to believe she loved him? He could not, of course, pose this question to her, because it was not as easily answered as the rest of the inquiries he had made. She believed she loved him, and without knowing exactly what about him made her think she loved him he could not hope to gain an answer. It was possible she might have a clue, but he seriously doubted it would get him as far as he was hoping, so there was no real purpose in asking.

Still, there were yet other ways to find out what he wished to know, or at least make a start on finding out what he wished to know, that did not include spiked potions.

Gazing down at Catherine, he considered how to go about this final approach to answering any and all questions he had, and for once wished that she was not such a difficult creature to figure out. He was used to females in general being rather vexing, but they, for the most part, the ones he had encountered at least, had given him some suggestion as to what they were really about. Many had shallow, material interests, including his own Mother, and were not so complex to figure out if he took the time to contemplate them. As he remembered thinking earlier, just how difficult humans and Cait Siths were to figure out, he supposed it had to be a result of the mixture of the two, as well as being female, that made Catherine so much more difficult to puzzle out. Here she sat in front of him, drugged practically to the gills with spill-your-guts, weeping for having been so humiliated by her own truthfulness, having confessed that she could no longer sleep or go without seeing him, and believed to love him, and yet he could not for the life of him figure out what about this unusual girl made her so interested in him.

Not money and land and fame. So what was left? What was left for her to find so intriguing about him? And why was she the only woman he had ever met who seemed to suffer such afflictions as insomnia as a result of going without being near him? He had known several females that encountered him to go months at a time pining away for him, but never once had heard of any women going so far as to lose sleep over his disinterest in them. So why this girl?

Well, if there was one thing Sage knew at this point, it was that there was a very simple way to discern what a woman's desires were without much effort on his part. He felt fortunate at least that his mother had educated him in such matters, though how to go about it now… Something told him that blatant seduction would not work so greatly to his advantage now, but he had one idea that might make it workable.

"You have answered all my questions," he said softly, gazing down calmly at Catherine, who was not looking up at him, but had her head down as she continued to weep pathetically. "But there is one more matter that must be dealt with before you are able to leave and return to your guide."

Catherine hiccupped, but did not speak, and continued to tremble as he bound her wrists together in one of his, and used the other to hook a finger under her chin, coaxing her face up to him. She looked dreadful, with tears still streaking down her face from slightly reddened eyes, though the jade color of her irises shone brightly as she stared up at him through half closed eyes. Her face was pale from her struggle to resist the effects of the spill-your-guts, and there was a splash of crimson blood on her quivering lips from where it had trickled down from her lacerated tongue. He looked into her eyes for a moment, wondering just what he might see swirling in their tear filled depths, and felt surprised when he could detect nothing. No sadness, no anger, not even the humiliation that he would have anticipated seeing. Just a blankness, though her tears still slipped down her cheeks, and she choked quietly on sobs.

Was this a defense mechanism, he wondered. Perhaps she was so completely distraught that she had shut herself down. It would not be the first time he had seen such a tactic. He and his brothers employed it daily, as a result of their upbringing, and he was sure they were not the only ones in any world to use such tactics.

"The matter at hand," he continued softly, keeping Catherine's face firmly turned up to him, "Is that I have, once again, granted you sanctuary and offered healing to you. These things are not done freely, and I expect repayment for my troubles."

Catherine's eyes suddenly flashed fire at him, and her eyes narrowed to jade slits as she glared hatefully up at him, for the first displaying emotion as he gazed silently back down at her.

"You can go to hell," she hissed at him, surprising him. He had not expected such fierceness from her, but he supposed he should have learned better by now.

After all, she was one of the greatest mysteries he'd ever uncovered, and he was still working his way to her core.

"That is hardly called for, human," he told her in a dangerously quiet voice, narrowing his own eyes warningly at her. "Have I really done anything worth your wrath?"

"You know you have, you bastard," she said in a voice that trembled with tears and anger. "I owe you nothing now, so you can forget me owing you any favors."

Sage felt a slow burning in his gut as his temper was roused, but he suppressed it with little difficulty and met the girl's baleful look without flinching.

"It seems that while I neglected to give you the proper amount of nightshade last night," he mused, "I may have over administered spill-your-guts. You seem to know no boundaries now when speaking to me."

"I don't want to hear you talk about boundaries! You crossed all boundaries when you drugged me!" she spat at him, twisting her wrists in a bid for freedom, but he gave her no leeway and only tightened his grip to the point that she squeaked in pain and ceased her struggles as his grip threatened to crush her bones.

It was just a show of how weak she was that he could so easily contain her with so little effort given. And she hated it. She hated that he made her weak. Why had she ever trusted him in the first place? Demon had warned her about the Princes of the Winter Court, but she'd been naïve enough to think that one of them, just one of them, could be different from the others. That was what she got for thinking like a human in a place where humans didn't tread. And no matter what anyone said about faeries being incapable of lying, she would never believe it again. The Winter Prince now sitting her— so high and mighty and set in his station over her—had lied to her from the moment he'd taken her into his care for the first time in Tir Na Nog. Even if he hadn't uttered an untruth, he sure as hell hadn't given her the truth.

But that didn't seem to make a difference to him at all. Apparently lying didn't have to mean not giving the truth. So long as you didn't go spouting some crap to someone else, you were perfectly justified otherwise. And she hated that…Hated that he could so easily jump through the loopholes of his kind like it was nothing while she struggled and fought just to stay afloat in this insanity he called home. And as if to add insult to injury, he was now asking a favor for his gracious hospitality in her time of need. Bastard… She just wanted to reach up and claw that calm milieu right off his face, just dig in with her claws and tear it apart and watch him come apart at the seams.

Just thinking about raking at his handsome face had her fingers itching, and she felt her eyes burn hotter than before so she blinked rapidly to keep them from scalding. What she didn't see, Sage did however, and what the Prince saw as she sat there, trembling in his grip, were two inch long claws curling out of her nails, pointed and lethal as daggers, and her eyes grew to an even brighter, almost acidic green while her round pupils stretched and narrowed until he was looking down into the burning green eyes of a Cait Sith.

Or, at least, he was staring into the eyes of Catherine's fey self, though she had not turned completely feline, and actually seemed completely unaware of the change, for no sooner had she done it than she was changing back, giving in completely to tears and closing her eyes, which had resumed their natural shape and color.

"I don't owe you anything," she said, choking on her sobs. "I don't care what you say or what you've done for me. You gave up any favors you might have wanted to ask for when you drugged me!"

Sage arched a dark eyebrow at her. "Is that how you look at it? That because you interpret what I have done as a grave offense that you owe me nothing in return for keeping you safe here, and even going so far as to look past the oath you swore me during your last night in Tir Na Nog?"

"You drugged me!" Catherine threw at him, her tears doubling. "Did you even stop to consider that I didn't answer your questions in the first place that it meant it was none of your business why I did what I did or what happened?"

"Am I supposed to care?"

She stopped dead, her eyes flying open to stare up into Sage's emotionless face in astonishment. The total calm and carelessness with which he had stated those simple words stopped her in her tracks, and she couldn't think of anything to say as she gazed up at the sidhe prince, who looked straight back, unmoved. He blinked slowly down at her, his vivid emerald eyes completely void of any type of emotion as he continued to pin her wrists in his crushing grip, watching as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Was he supposed to care? …No, of course he wasn't. He was a Winter Prince, heir to the Unseelie Throne. Of course he wasn't supposed to give a damn…

The mere thought of that truth nearly sent Catherine over the edge, but when she would have turned her face away just for the relief of not looking at him, his fingers tightened on her chin, holding her still, so she was forced to continue to meet his unrelenting stare.

"I asked you a question," he murmured. "I expect an answer. Am I supposed to care about what you do or do not wish to disclose to me?"

Catherine stared up at him, her lip quivering, her tongue stinging from where she'd bitten into it, and her eyes still burning and watering with the constant stream of tears. Her wrists ached from where he still clutched tightly at them, and she felt that same, strange tingling sensation both there and at her chin where his fingers touched her skin as she always did when he touched her.

"No," she whispered in defeat. "You're not supposed to give a damn about anything I say, or do, or want. It's all about you."

She said the last part because she wanted to shake him. Just a little bit. Just make him pause at the truth of the words, but he did not even seem fazed by her cold observation of him. In fact, he almost seemed amused, and the ghost of a smirk flitted briefly across his lips as he watched her, making her feel even angrier, even more belittled by him.

"You are correct," he murmured. "It is about me. Everything that is done is always for one's self, and never for the benefit of another if they do not directly get some reward out of it."

"That's not true," she said instantly.

Sage arched an eyebrow. "How is it not true?"

"Demon protected me," she said heatedly, "He protected me that day at the cost of his life without ever asking me to do anything to repay him!"

"Perhaps he is already in the pay of another," suggested Sage quietly, his eyes narrowing. "Have you considered that, human? Consider why the Cait Sith even brought you to the Nevernever in the first place. Why would he even bother with you? You are a half-breed. A disgrace. Yet he invited you to Faery and has led you around in your pointless search for answers regarding your heritage. Has it not occurred to you that perhaps he was instructed to bring you here by someone else? Someone you are searching for but he has no intention of leading you to."

Catherine felt her eyes grow round as she realized what he was suggesting, and felt her heart begin to pound haphazardly in her chest as she tried to shake her head in denial, but his hand kept her from moving, and she was left to stare into the prince's face.

"No," she said, her voice trembling. "No, Demon wouldn't do that!"

"Why not?" Sage asked, arching his jet black brows at him, cocking his head to one side so his long black hair fell over one shoulder. "What is to keep the Cait Sith from such a thing? If he is serving your father, and your father has offered him a deal for protecting you at all costs, what would stop him?"

"He would have told me," Catherine whispered. "He would have told me if he knew my father…!"

"Oh?" Sage looked disbelieving. "Have you asked him directly whether or not he knows your father? Have you specifically demanded to know whether he has knowledge of the Cait Sith that sired you? Or did you merely assume that he had no affiliation with him as he did not hasten to tell you when you decided to go in search of your father?"

Tears were coming again, and she couldn't stop them. She just couldn't believe what the Prince was saying. Demon was her only friend here. The only one she'd considered an ally in a place she had little understanding of. She had thought that if she made it a point that she was looking for her father he would automatically say he knew where to find him. She had never actually asked the Cait Sith about the man who had sired her. Why should she? What would Demon gain by not telling her what he knew?

"You're lying," she whispered. "You don't know Demon at all!"

"I am not lying," denied Sage, "Though I cannot say with certainty that the Cait Sith is indeed in the employ of your sire. He could just as easily be working for any number of higher fey in this world without telling you. And I perhaps know the Cait Sith better than you would like to believe, human. You have not seen this world in its entirety. You have not lived here as I have. I know the workings of this world and the ways of the people within it. You do not. You are naïve and a mere child here with no real conception of what is happening around you. You only think you know what is happening when you really are as clueless and blind as a newborn babe."

Catherine couldn't even speak now, too choked up with tears to even consider speech. So she sat there, helpless, and gazed up through blurry eyes into the frost green eyes of the sidhe Prince.

"Regardless of this," he murmured, seemingly unaffected by her internal struggles, or the tears that continued to fall from her over bright eyes, "You do owe me a favor, human, and until I receive that favor on your behalf, I see no reason to permit to go anywhere. And if you insist on resisting the inevitable in repaying me, I do not see what is to stop me turning you over to the Unseelie Court. I am not bound to protect you any further than I have already, so you may wish to consider the repercussions of not abiding by the laws that are observed here. You are not in the human world anymore, so you would do well to remember as much."

She could hardly believe her ears. Not only was Sage suggesting that Demon was somehow in league with her father or any other powerful fey leading her around Nevernever with no intention of getting her any closer to answers she wanted, but now he was threatening to turn her over to his brother and the rest of the Unseelie Court if she didn't comply with his twisted fey agreement that she owed him something—anything—that he asked of her. She felt now, more than ever, that she really should have seen it coming. Should have known the warning signs and taken heed of Demon's advice when he had told her those of the Unseelie Court, particularly members of the royal family, were never people to get involved with. If only she'd considered his advice sooner…but it was too late for that now. Now she had to come to terms with her mistakes, swallow her pride, and realize that she wasn't safe in her human world anymore. As Sage had said: this wasn't the human world, human rules and ideals didn't apply here…

"Fine," she choked out at last. "Fine…You want your favor? Name it. Just say it so I can give it to you and go…"

"You really are a child," sighed the sidhe Prince, looking almost annoyed as he glanced down at her. "Thinking a favor is so easily taken care of."

She thought about telling him just what she'd like to do for his favor, but knew it would do her no good, and he wouldn't even react no matter what she said, so she didn't speak, finally glad, at least, that the spill-your-guts had seemed to wear off during her breakdown and she was no longer under the compulsion to speak what was really on her mind.

"What do you want?" she whispered, glaring at him. "Just tell me what the hell you want from me…I'm done playing this game!"

"A game, is it?" Sage asked. "I do not play games. Games are for children. But, as you wish, I will make this brief. There is one last question I have to ask of you, but it must be asked without words, since I doubt you yourself have an appropriate answer to give me."

So, he didn't play games, she thought bitterly, but he loved indulging in those stupid riddles he and the rest of the fey seemed so fond of. Funny how 'game' by definition seemed to vary here as much as 'lying' did.

"I ask as a return favor for my troubles that you grant me the answer to my question in the way I deem necessary to ask it," he said, "A kiss."

Catherine felt as though she'd just been sucker punched in the gut, and the air left her lungs in a rush as she gaped up at Sage, who remained passive, his expression giving away nothing.

"You're joking," she said weakly. "A kiss?"

There were a million things running through her head that she would just love to say to him about that, but aside from her brain feeling temporarily short circuited, she had lost all bravado that the spill-your-guts had previously invoked in her, and she couldn't think of a single thing to say to the Prince.

"A kiss," he confirmed, his emerald eyes thoughtful as he took in the stricken look on her face. "That is all."

"That's all?" she asked, appalled.

"You treat it as though it some huge atrocity," the Prince sighed, clearly growing impatient.

"Maybe not to you," she said, her voice shaking again, "But I don't make a habit of going around kissing random men because they decide to ask it as a favor. You can ask anything else of me, but not that."

"And why not that?" he inquired, arching a brow.

"Because," she stammered, a single tear sliding down her cheek, "That's not who I am. I can't just turn my feelings on and off like everyone else seems to be able to. You may think it is totally insignificant and meaningless; just a passing thing that happens between people that really means nothing in the long run, but that isn't how I look at it. To me that's as good as a commitment, from someone else to me and from me to them. That isn't something I just do because it seems like it might be a good idea or because I have a passing fancy."

"But I'm not a passing fancy, am I?" Sage murmured. His emerald eyes fairly burned with green fire as he leaned over her, his pitch black hair falling in a long curtain around him, brushing against her face as he came within mere inches of her face. "You said it yourself: You love me."

The only thing he could have done worse than that was taken the dagger in his belt and driven it through her heart. But he had said it, and she could feel her heart twisting painfully in her chest, bringing more tears to her eyes. So long as she lived, she would never forgive the sidhe Prince for that, but she doubted he would care whether he gained her forgiveness or not. It wasn't about anyone else and what they wanted; it was all about him.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why do you even want that from me? You could ask anything at all and you want to ask that? Maybe you're forgetting I'm a half-breed."

But she knew he hadn't forgotten that at all. It probably just didn't make a difference to him. In his eyes, she suspected every woman was the same, no matter what she looked like or where she came from. She could have been a Grand Duchess for all he cared and he would still treat her this way. It was all about him…

"Regardless of your station," Sage murmured, "You owe me a favor, and I have named it. I will not ask for anything else. So, daughter of Cait Sith, what will you do? I do not have all day to wait for your answer."

"Why?" she demanded again, still not able to speak above a whisper, still with her voice choked with tears. "You could ask anything…"

"But I have asked this," the Prince said. "I told you I wanted the answer to a question you cannot answer me in words, because you yourself probably do not have an answer. I only wish to know the answer to that question in my mind, and this is the way I have chosen to find it. Now, will you grant me this favor or not, human? Remember your wellbeing may very well rest on your answer…"

Catherine was very sure she would never loathe another man as she much as she did the one sitting in front of her no matter how long she lived. Or, at least that was what she would like to think about the whole issue. But with her heart going a mile a minute in her chest, leaving her breathless, and her watering eyes locked with the Unseelie Prince's, she knew it wasn't true. No matter what he did, no matter what he said, no matter how this all ended—even if he _did _turn her over to his brother and mother in the end—she knew deep in the pit of her heart where even she couldn't quite reach that she would never hate Sage, no matter what she might wish to the contrary.

"Fine," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Fine…if that's really what you want, then fine…go ahead."

Somehow she knew she was condemning herself in some way, knowing that she would never be able to get past this. She hadn't lied when she'd told him she wouldn't be able to let go. Not just because that was who she was, but also because it was who _he _was. And he hadn't lied when he'd reminded her that she loved him…and that was the part she hated most of all.

Sage could see the conflict in her eyes, and could only guess at how much anguish she was in, but he didn't particularly care to delve into the feelings of a half human girl who had been foolish enough to believe that she was cared for. It was not his fault if she had led herself to thinking that this world was like her Mortal Realm, and that she knew just as much about the things here as she did there. He would not take the blame onto his shoulders for something completely beyond his control. Least of all the childish, misguided beliefs of a half-breed.

At her words, he leaned forward, seeing her expression lock up immediately, a feeble attempt to shut herself off from reality as his eyes drifted closed and he touched his lips to her tear slicked ones, tasting blood as he leaned her backwards until she fell heavily against the mattress with a small whimper, her eyes tightly shut. He propped himself above her, leaning his weight on his arms, finally releasing her wrists so her hands fell loosely to her sides as he pressed his lips more firmly against hers. She did not respond to him, lying rigid beneath him, and he sighed against her trembling mouth as he realized this was not quite what he had been aiming for. One could easily get answers from the body of another, but that required the other body to respond, and she was not.

He supposed he should have had the foresight to know she wouldn't, but he seemed to keep underestimating her in certain areas. This would be one of them. Pushing himself up to look down at the girl, who barely opened her eyes to peer back at him from under tear splashed lashes, he frowned as she continued to lay like a stone beneath him, save the trembling of her entire body.

"Perhaps I should have made myself a little clearer on this matter," he murmured, tilting his head slightly so his dark hair slid across his shoulders to coil like so much black silk on the fur throw around them. "And let me see if this might incite you to react accordingly…You seem so good at pretending, so let's say that, for a moment, pretend that you have no restraints, no regrets, and that I actually care for you. If we were to pretend that for a moment, how would you react to me then, I wonder?"

Catherine bit down on her lip, tasting her own blood, and looked away from Sage. She didn't want to look at him. He'd already said enough things against her that she would never forgive, and he just seemed to keep adding to the list. She had thought letting him kiss her was enough, but apparently she'd been wrong. Not only did she have to lay there and act like she didn't feel like her entire body was a charged electric current when he kissed her and that her heart might just come right out of her chest, but now he was telling her to kiss him back like he _wasn't _a bastard who had threatened and tricked her. What would he ask next, she wondered vaguely, fighting back new tears as she felt his fingers on her chin, forcing her to look at him. Maybe he'd just go the whole nine yards and ask her to strip down and get under the covers, too. Then maybe he'd be satisfied with how far he'd violated her.

"I am only asking you to show me the extent of your feelings," Sage murmured. "You have my word: I only ask you to return whatever feelings you are so keen to hide through this small exchange, and then you are free to go wherever you please. Whether that is back to your guide or even as far as your home in the Mortal Realm."

Oh, so he wouldn't ask her for sex? He just wanted her to make out with him so he could figure out just how much she felt for him. Of course, she should have expected. No self respecting Unseelie Prince would ever go so far as to sharing his bed with a common half-breed.

"So," the sidhe Prince said softly, leaning back down towards her, "Will you answer my question properly now?"

She felt his cool lips brush against hers, like the touch of butterfly wings, and closed her eyes tightly. Just let go, she thought, feeling her heart begin to jackhammer against her ribcage, making it harder to breathe. Just let it go and do it. It's just a kiss…just a kiss, and then it's over and you can leave and you'll never have to see his face again.

It was the worst conviction she'd ever tried to make to herself, but what else could she do? If she let herself believe it was more than what it was, she would only end up even more wounded than she already was, though that wasn't saying much. He'd already torn her heart out. He couldn't do much worse than that.

Catherine finally shut herself off from thought as Sage's lips brushed hers again, waiting for a reaction, and with a muffled sob she reached up to tangle her hands in his long hair, locking her lips to his as he coiled one arm tightly around her waist, lifting her slightly as she kissed him as though he _did _care, as though he _did _love her, and as though she wasn't breaking into a thousand pieces on the inside as new tears flooded her eyes behind her closed eyelids, sparkling in her lashes as they slipped free and trickled down her face. And he kissed her back like she mattered to him, and that she wasn't just a half-breed who owed him a simple favor. His mouth moved firmly over hers, dominating, and she followed his lead, letting him show her how to answer him.

She felt currents of pure electricity running between them, from his mouth to hers, and streaking trails of fire throughout her blood, making her feel hot and dazed as she ran her fingers through his silken hair, curling her fingers into it to pull him closer, and he let her. His tongue flicked out, tracing the form of her lip, lingering to clean the blood away, and she whimpered, confused and disoriented as stars danced behind her eyes and her heart thundered in her breast. Her head was spinning dizzyingly fast as he finally coaxed her to part her lips for him and he slipped inside, tasting and teasing, leaving a burning sensation behind as their breathing mingled and mixed together and she locked her arms tightly around his neck, for a moment leaving behind the harsh reality and just letting go. Really letting go.

His arms coiled around her waist, dragging her closer, and holding her to him so she could feel every muscle of his body imprinted on her as she practically drowned in his very essence. His breath was cool, but the rest of him was hot, alive, and she didn't ever want to let him go…

Sage broke away suddenly, one arm moving away to reach up and pull her hands free of their grip around his neck, and Catherine's eyes fluttered open, hazy and bewildered, to see the Prince drawing away, his ice green eyes calm and unfathomable as he hovered over her, searching her expression with that soul-piercing gaze, his mouth turned down in a slight frown. He was breathing a little more deeply than before, but nothing to suggest he was in any way afflicted or moved by what had just transpired between them. If anything, he looked even more removed than before as he gazed into her eyes, lost in thought. Then he shifted back, pushing himself further away, but still half hovering over her, though as he moved out of reach she was forced to let her now empty hands fall uselessly to her sides.

Total shame washed over her as she gazed up at the sidhe Prince, trying desperately to catch her breath, trying not to pay attention to the little sparks that continued to go off all over her body. Her lips fairly tingled with the remaining shock of his kiss, and she could still taste him on her tongue, a sweet, icy tang that she knew she would never forget, even if she washed out her mouth a thousand times with the most potent soap.

Sage knelt there above her, not speaking for a long moment, his eyes carefully scrutinizing her face, before he finally seemed to reach a wordless conclusion, and his expression cleared before going completely blank.

"I see," he murmured softly, his voice slightly breathless, and rolled away, off of the bed, to stand with his back to her.

Catherine closed her eyes, fighting back tears again, and threw an arm over her face just to block out the sights around her, wishing she could keep herself shut off a little longer so she didn't have to feel the unbearable ache that was settling deep in her chest, almost suffocating her as it constricted around her heart and lungs. It felt like a huge weight had been dropped on her, and she knew she didn't have the strength to move it, so she lay there and let it inevitably crush her, biting down hard on her lip to keep back the sobs rising fast in her throat. She could hear Sage's footsteps as the Winter sidhe moved away from her, and she hoped he would just leave. Just walk out the door and not say a word to her, but, of course, that was her expecting too much.

The Prince stopped at the door, pulling it open quietly, then glanced back over his shoulder to where the girl lay, not looking at him, though he could see from here the way her body shook with silent sobs and how she bit down almost brutally on her lip, possibly to keep from crying or screaming. Either way, it did not matter to him.

"When you are ready," he said softly, "Bane will be waiting to escort you to the border of Winter and Summer so you may return to your guide."

She didn't answer him, though he was not in the least bit surprised, and he stepped through the door and closed it behind him. He half expected to hear something slam into the door immediately after, indicating she'd thrown something after him, but there was only silence as he moved away from the room and strode across the floor to where Bane lay quietly by the fire. The familiar's eyes were open as Sage drew level with him, and held a silent understanding as his master seated himself on a small pouf with a sigh, looking drawn.

"She should be ready soon," he murmured to the wolf, who blinked once to indicate he had heard and understood, but did not speak. Sage did not believe his familiar was in any way disappointed in his behavior. Bane wouldn't have cared if he had ravaged the girl, but he suspected at least that his familiar was curious of what had led him to do what he had, even though it had only been a simple kiss, regardless of what anyone else cared to think of it.

He sighed again, slouching down against the pouf, and drawing a hand slowly across his face, feeling distinctly cheated. He had hoped at least a kiss from the girl would give him some kind of clarity as to just what it was that she felt for him, as it had proved a useful maneuver with other females he had not been easily able to read. But he really felt no closer to his answer than he had felt beforehand. True, he had managed to cross out a few possible answers from his list of possibilities, but he still had a few leftover, and no solid answer. Of the things he had managed to negate as tentative possibilities, however, the girl's interest in possibly his body was definitely one. If that had been what drew her to him, she would have used the opportunity presented to let her hands roam, as had been the case with a couple females, but that was not what she had done. She had only gone so far as to cling to his shoulders and hair, and nothing more. She had not made any moves to twine her body around his, though he had given her a clear chance to do so by bringing her so close to him.

He had also learned that the girl had no experience, whatsoever, in matters of intimacy. A female's kissing experience spoke volumes. The kind of men they had been with, the kind of things they preferred, and very often their more deeply buried desires, but the girl had about as much experience under her belt as a child. No, come to consider it, she had even less experience than a child. Even a fey child knew how to properly kiss someone, and she could not even do that. He had had to lead her along as though by the hand; show her the proper way to reciprocate. It had been more of a task than he'd ever thought it could possibly be, and he truly felt a little disgruntled as he considered how much time he had wasted, even if it had only been a matter of seconds that he had allowed her to cling to him.

He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose, and frowned towards the fireplace, watching the flames dance and shimmer like so many sapphires. His plan had completely backfired, and he had no recovery to make up for it. The girl was not interested in anything typically sought after by other females that surrounded him, prowling like hungry wolves, and he had used up his last resource in the hope of retrieving an answer. Now he had nothing. She would not speak to him any longer, and he had no hopes that she would ever accept another draught from him, even if she was dying in the woods with no other resources to aid her. He might like to consider that her 'love' was just a passing fancy and perhaps over exaggerated to the degree that she honestly believed she had fallen for him and would love no other, but he would be foolish to think that a week without sleep and a senseless desire to see him again amounted to a 'passing fancy' in any shape or form. She saw something in him that had made her fall for him, or at least believed that she had fallen for him, and he had no clue as to what it could be. And now she would never tell him, even if she knew what it was.

There was nothing for it, he thought. He would just have to let this one pass him by and never bother himself with it again. Though he may desire an answer for anything, he knew when to stop looking for answers, and this was one of those times when it was a much wiser action to call a halt and move along to the next query than to mill about uselessly fretting about something of such little concern. The only thing he needed to bother himself with now was how long it would take for the girl to get her bearings and make an appearance so Bane could take her back to the border.

Given her distress, he was willing to allot at least a couple more hours before she had the ability to face him, and that was being gracious. Another woman would have taken a few minutes to gather herself and be gone from his presence once she'd detected he had no intention of going along further, but he was steadily learning more and more that the half human was not quite what he was used to handling. Keeping that in mind, he settled more deeply into his chosen pouf and allowed his eyes to drop closed, taking the opportunity to meditate on his next move forward regarding other matters that he did know well, and could handle without such trouble.

On the other side of the door, Catherine still lay flat on her back, arm over her face, and without making a sound. Tears ran down her face, but she didn't cry aloud. She was too exhausted, her mind too overwhelmed to even register that she was supposed to be making some sound of grief to accompany her tears. All she cared to think about was the hot wetness on her face, and the incessant ache that had taken control of her chest, squeezing mercilessly on her heart. She forced herself to ignore the burning on her lips, the feverish heat still running through her body, and the cool, cloying taste that still lingered on her lips. She didn't want to acknowledge them.

She sniffed quietly in the silent room, finally moving to roll onto her side and curl into a tight ball, her head tucked against her chest as more tears fell from her eyes onto the fur throw. She'd never felt more vulnerable or broken apart in her entire life… She had never imagined she would ever feel this way, but she knew she'd been stupid to think she would never know real heartbreak. Some people went their whole lives without experiencing it, and she had been stupid enough to think she would be one of those people that never had to endure the shattering pain that came with having your entire being be broken up by a single person. A person you trusted beyond all others; someone you thought cared.

She'd been stupid from the beginning to trust Sage and his pretty words. Believing that through his actions he had given a single care for her when she should have been able to realize sooner that the only reason he did what he had was because he was getting something out of it. Favors…oaths… That was all that mattered to him. It was all that the people of Faery cared about. And she had been fucking stupid enough to let herself think he wasn't exactly the same as every other goddamned faery in this goddamned place…that somehow he was different, and that she was different to him, too. Stupid…

She blinked her watering eyes, staring unseeingly at the blanket beneath her, not really paying attention to the way her tears clung to each individual strand of fur like round, glittering jewels. She felt hollow inside, and she knew it was because that in giving Sage his favor, she had also given up a part of herself, and she wasn't ever going to get it back. Whether Sage wanted it or not, he'd taken a piece of her soul with him.

She sniffed again, blinking away tears as a kind of empty understanding washed over her, and she breathed a shaky sigh as she put her hands beneath her and pushed herself up into a sitting position, raising a hand to wipe away the tears in her eyes. It didn't help her to sit here anymore, she realized dimly. She could cry for weeks if she wanted but the point of the matter was that nothing she did was going to change what had happened, and nothing was going to change what Sage thought of her. To him, she would always be a half-breed daughter of Cait Sith; just another nameless girl who had owed him a couple of favors. A few weeks from now, he probably wouldn't even remember her name, assuming he remembered it now, even. He had not once said her name in the entire time she had been here, so maybe he'd already forgotten, which was fine with her.

Lowering her feet to the floor, she rose unsteadily to her feet, taking a deep breath to center herself as she looked up into the large mirror across from her. She didn't recognize the girl looking back at her with red rimmed eyes and disheveled copper hair. This girl, with her flat, empty green eyes and pale face, was a stranger to her, and she blinked once at her before turning away from her reflection. She had once heard that mirrors were windows to the soul, and it was very obvious just by looking that her soul had died. Taking another deep breath, pushing her hand through her unkempt hair to keep it out of her face, she walked slowly over to the fireplace, slipping her shoes onto her feet and pushing her arms through the sleeves of her jacket as she lifted it from the grate, pulling it tightly around her. She felt like she was walking in a dream as she made her way to the door and let her hand fall to the handle, and for a moment she hesitated just inside, wondering what she would do if Sage waited for her on the other side.

Giving a humorless smile, she shook her head, realizing her own stupidity. Sage may wait in the other room, but he would never wait for her. He had no care for her; no interest. He had made that much very clear in the past half hour, and she needed to remember that. He was a Winter Prince, she was a half-breed. Such worlds did not connect for any reason, least of all a simple thing like love.

She sighed again, closing her eyes briefly, then tugged lightly on the doorknob and stepped out into the main room. Bane lay on the rug by the fire, looking to be asleep, but his amber eyes opened slowly as she closed the bedroom door behind her, and she stepped forward towards him she caught sight of Sage's black hair spilling over the edge of a pouf as the Prince lay half stretched out next to his familiar, eyes closed, though she doubted he slept.

She turned her gaze away from him so she didn't have to see his face, and instead looked at Bane as the familiar rose slowly to his paws, watching her attentively.

Taking a slow, careful breath, she looked into the intelligent amber eyes of the wolf and murmured, "I'm ready to leave."

He dipped his head to her, then turned to lead the way towards the hidden doorway that led out of the Lodge. She followed him in silence, not daring to look back at Sage, and biting down on her tongue to keep from uttering a word. She owed him no thanks, so she would give him none. He had collected his favor, and that was enough. She followed Bane as the great gray wolf stepped through the hidden doorway leading out of the Lodge, and only when she was through the door did she lose her will to look ahead and glanced back. But she did not see Sage. All that she could see now as she stood in the biting cold and snow of the Winter forest was a great tree towering up to the sky, with one long gouge running down its robust trunk.

"Human," Bane murmured, and she turned to look at the wolf, who was already several paces ahead of her, looking back through the snow that was falling softly around them, "Come. I will take you to the border."

She nodded wordlessly and walked after the wolf, her shoes crunching in the snow and her head bowed. Bane did not speak to her for the rest of the time that they walked, and she was secretly grateful for the silence between them. Around them, the forest was silent, and the snow made no sound as it fell from heaven to blanket the surrounding land in pure white. Trailing behind Bane, holding her jacket tightly around her to keep out the bite of the cold, Catherine felt one last tear fall from her eye onto the snow at her feet. It froze instantly, creating a sparkling diamond against the white powder, and with it she let everything else go.

The pain, the betrayal, the anger, the sadness. Her mother had raised her to believe in herself, and to rely on few except those that truly cared for her, and those that didn't care didn't matter. She had been brought up to know that she would be hurt along the span of her lifetime, and that while it may ache and burn and fester like a wound inside of her, no wound could remain open forever. True, some wounds would not always heal, and some would leave scars in their wake, but you could always recover with the right healing so long as you didn't let yourself believe that you couldn't overcome your wound. It might take a long time, but so long as you let yourself believe you could overcome it, you could. You would always know it was there, and it might hinder you sometimes, but it would never take you over completely if you didn't let it.

And Catherine knew her mother was right… It may hurt, and it may take what seemed like forever to heal, and even if she never forgot who or what had caused her pain, she couldn't let it rule her.

"_I know it's hard," her mother's voice murmured, "And it hurts, but don't ever think you can't beat it."_

Still, at that moment, even remembering the words her mother had spoken to her so many times, Catherine couldn't recover herself… She continued to trail along behind Bane in silence, vaguely aware of the sun rising somewhere behind her, turning the white snow to a glittering gold, as in her mind's eye a dark haired prince with frost-like emerald eyes gazed down at her, frozen and untouchable. The dull ache in her heart remained, a constant reminder, long after she and Bane had parted ways at the border, and stayed her constant companion on her long trek back through the wyldwood, now bathed in the light and warmth of Summer, though it didn't quite melt the ice that remained from Winter.


	8. Chapter 8

Puck wasn't sure if he had ever encountered anything more interesting in his entire life, or anything more redundant. He was sure he had, but as he watched Nikki pace restlessly back and forth across the tiny waiting room of the healer's hut, he couldn't quite recollect anything. Sitting cross legged on top of a nearby cabinet, one elbow propped on his knee with his chin in his hand, his green eyes lazily followed the girl's anxious progress across the room, a small smile on his face, though he could tell the girl was in no mood for jokes; hence why he'd been smart enough to keep his mouth firmly sealed for the past few hours that they'd been shut up in Old Spindle's tree-hut. It had been a bit of a surprise when they'd first gotten there with the sun slowly on the rise, the sky a twinkling rose color, and Ash had knocked with his usual authority on the door.

They hadn't had to wait long for the old goblin healer to answer, and Ash had been about to open his mouth to explain when the lady had snapped,

"Get lost!"

And slammed the door in the prince's stunned face, much to Puck's delight.

Ash had knocked again, louder and more persistently this time, but the woman didn't even open the door, only shouting through the barricade,

"Square off! Before I set the piskies on you!"

"We're looking for the Cait Sith named Demon," Ash called through the door, clearly impatient.

"Don't know how you're talking about," the hag had called back. "Now clear out!"

Ash had grumbled a few choice words under his breath and was about ready to draw his sword to kick the door in when Meghan had a moment of inspiration and quickly put a hand on his arm to stay his blade, giving him a look, then knocking lightly on the door.

"Scram!" the hag snapped from inside.

"Catherine sent us," Meghan said, loud enough that her voice would make it through the wooden door. "We're friends of hers and she sent us here to wait for her until she gets back."

There had been a long pause, then a click as the hag unlocked the door and opened it the tiniest of cracks to peer out through wrinkled and faded black eyes at the Iron Queen, her expression not quite trusting, and muttered,

"Go on, then."

Looking relieved Meghan went on in a hurry to explain their encounter with Bane earlier and his explanation that Demon was here, waiting for Catherine, and that they'd been looking all over for Catherine to make sure she was safe. The hag didn't move once in the entire time that Meghan rambled on, though her expression seemed to relax further and further every passing minute until she was no longer glaring, but still frowned a little uncertainly as she cracked the door a mere inch further so they could see her whole aged face lined with wrinkles and darkened with liver spots.

"Who are you all?" she had asked skeptically as Meghan finally stopped speaking.

"I'm Meghan Chase," Meghan said, and the hag's eyes flashed with recognition before becoming guarded again. "I know Catherine through these two."

She had gestured behind her to where Nikki and Trinity stood with hopeful expressions on their face. The goblin healer turned her beady eyes onto the two half humans, her graze scrutinizing them for a split second before she swung the door wide and stepped to the side, hands on her hips.

"Fine then," she had said in a weary voice. "Come in. But don't you go giving my patient trouble or you'll be out on your tails before you can blink."

With that, she had turned and shuffled away into the hut, leaving the group to file in behind her, and that had pretty much led up to where they currently stood, or sat. Demon, the Cait Sith, had been fast asleep in a bed of moss and straw, his fluffy black tail curled over his nose, and though Nikki had been all for waking him up to interrogate him on Catherine's wellbeing and exact whereabouts, under the watchful eye of the goblin nurse, she didn't dare, and had taken instead to pacing the length of the room in agitation, counting silently in her head the seconds until the Cait Sith would finally wake up. Everyone else had settled down around her. Puck had perched on the cabinet which now made up his seat while Ash and Meghan had taken up seats at the miniature table in the center of the cluttered room, leaning subconsciously into each other. Tertius and Glitch were stationed by the door, looking very much their knightly parts as they did not speak, though after the first hour Glitch had taken up a spot on the floor rather than staying ramrod straight and standing. Grimalkin had found a patch of sun filtering in slowly through the one round window and promptly set himself down there for a nap. Trinity was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, vaguely watching Nikki pace back and forth, though she didn't remark on it, as though she knew it would do no good to tell the girl to sit still.

All in all, the past couple of hours had passed them by in a kind of hazy stupor, and no one felt inclined to speak. Occasionally, the nurse, Old Spindle, she called herself, would mutter something or other under her breath, not speaking to anyone in particular, as she scurried about mixing drafts and grinding herbs at top speed until the whole hut was filled with the different combinations of flowery aromas. Puck glanced around as the hag muttered in a rather louder tone than before, and smirked as he saw the tiny goblin struggling to pull a large book from underneath a pile of filthy rags and discarded bandages.

"Need some help there?" he asked lightly, amused.

Spindle turned her head to fix him with a dark stare, lifted her long, warty nose at him, sniffed disdainfully, then returned to the task of retrieving the book, straining her tiny arms with the effort. Puck snickered, and Ash gave him a disapproving look. Meghan was the better of all of them and rose from her seat to walk over and yank the book free of the overflowing pile of cloth to hand it to Spindle, who snatched it from the Queen's hands without so much as thank you and marched back over to her grinding table with her nose in the air.

Meghan frowned at the goblin as she resumed her seat beside Ash, who curled an arm around her waist, his thumb feathering reassuringly across her arm, though he fixed Spindle with a rather poisonous look.

"Well," sighed Puck as another few minutes passed in total silence, save Spindle's mutterings and scurrying about, "This is an absolutely riveting event we've got going on here, but I'm getting a tad antsy just lounging around. What say we go rustle up something decent to eat for the morning and come back in a couple of hours when Sleeping Catty finally decides to wake up?"

Nikki paused, mid-stride across the room, and turned to look uncertainly at him. Bored she may be, and anxious as a mother hen, but she had no desire to leave the hut when there was the possibility that Demon could rouse himself at any moment. If they went out, and he woke up, they'd just be wandering around uselessly to come back and find they'd wasted however much time that could have been spent questioning him.

"I don't know," she mumbled, frowning at Puck, wrapping her arms around herself to keep herself steady. "What if he wakes up the minute we walk out?"

"I supremely doubt that would be the case," Grimalkin yawned from his sunny corner, stretching his forepaws and unsheathing long claws.

"Oh, yeah?" Puck looked questioningly at the cat. "And what makes you figure that, fur ball? You cats have some secret sense of when your cousins are going to pop out of their stupor?"

"Hardly," sniffed Grimalkin, looking through bored yellow eyes at the Summer jester. "Honestly, are you all dim? The cretin has been awake since we arrived, and I have been waiting for one of you to start questioning him, but it seems, yet again, I am required to do everything around here."

"Still griping away as usual, I see, Grimalkin," said a weary voice then as, in his makeshift nest, Demon stirred subtly, "Good to see not much has changed about you in the past hundred or so years since I saw you last. Though I don't remember you ever making a habit of playing nice with either Summer or Winter, let alone a couple of half humans. Finally maturing a little, are we?"

Grimalkin sniffed indignantly without looking at his kin as the larger black cat pushed himself into a sitting stance, arching his back with an immense yawn that flashed long fangs.

"You really have gone off the rock, Demon," Grim said coolly to the other Cait Sith, who turned his head to fix his cousin with eerie yellow-green eyes. "I am not playing nice with anyone, least of all a couple of half breeds. That has always been your forte, as I believe. It is evidenced as much by your continued tom foolery in protecting said half breed. Really, have you no pride?"

"Pride is for cowards," purred Demon, flicking his tail and giving Grimalkin a darkly amused look.

"Is it now?" muttered Grimalkin, narrowing his yellow eyes.

"Enough!" snapped a scraggly voice, and Spindle came tottering over with a bowl of some vividly yellow liquid that had Demon wrinkling his nose delicately as she slammed it down in front of him. "I won't have you all getting into a cat fight in the middle of my house, and certainly not when you"—she jabbed a finger at Demon—"are still injured and need rest. Now, drink this, and I don't want to hear any complaints about it."

She turned on her heel and marched right back to her table while Demon sat eyeing the potion with a rather repulsed look, pawing lightly at the bowl as though contemplating tipping it over.

"Ugh," he grumbled as he thought better of it and dipped his head to the bright yellow liquid, "I really do detest daffodil…"

"What was that?" demanded Spindle, her beady eyes looking back to fix Demon with a dark stare.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Demon replied smoothly, not looking at the goblin as he flicked out a pink tongue to lap up the potion, though his tail bristled slightly as he swallowed and when he sat up he grimaced. "Yeck…"

"That is what happens when you go injuring yourself," said Grimalkin tersely. "Maybe you'll think twice about helping a human the next time you get cornered."

"I would not get your hopes up, cousin," Demon purred, swiping a vividly pink tongue around his muzzle to clear drops of yellow from his whiskers. "Though, I must say, I am surprised both to see you here, and to hear that you have heard of my companion. Were you coming for yourself to confirm the truth of the rumor or is this just a house call to your poor sick cousin?"

"Now who is getting their hopes up?" growled Grimalkin. "I am merely collecting a favor in return for helping search for the lost half-breed."

"As is your usual routine," sighed Demon, settling back down into his nest, paws tucked under him, though Nikki noticed the cat winced as he curled up, and carefully stretched out his left hind leg, which was wrapped in bandages. The white of the cloth was stained a light pink color and she felt a curl of nausea to know it was blood. "So, you are looking for the girl. Why?"

He addressed Puck as he said this, and Puck looked around in surprise, pointing at himself to clarify the Cait Sith had indeed spoken to him.

"Yes, you, Robin Goodfellow," said the black cat, twitching his whiskers as he appraised the faery with yellow-green eyes. "I doubt the Iron Queen and her King have any true interest in the girl, and their knights are merely here for decoration."

"Decoration?" Glitch scowled at the cat. "Like that's all we're here for…"

Demon ignored him. "So, Goodfellow, jester of the Summer court, what is it that has you so keen to look for my companion?"

"Good question," said Puck, shrugging, "I actually kind of got roped into this myself. I'm just a decoration, too, really, just much better looking than those." He gestured towards Tertius and Glitch, the latter of whom fixed the fey with a stony glare.

"You're better off asking them," Puck went on, ignorant to the death stare he was receiving, and pointed at Nikki and Trinity. "They're the main reason we're playing Seek-And-Ye-Shall-Find all over Nevernever, and parts of the human world."

"Like you weren't willing to come along," Ash snorted from his seat.

"Did I say that?" Puck asked lightly, folding his arms and looking towards the ceiling. "No. I didn't. I just said we've been running five different directions at once in the past few days and I'm about ready to get some answers."

"Then you shall get them," said Demon complacently, clearly amused. "Patience is a virtue, Goodfellow, though I seem to recall it was never one of yours."

"Never," agreed Ash fervently, to which Puck stuck out his tongue in impish retaliation. Ash just smirked.

"We really just want to find Catherine," Nikki said, finally stepping forward towards Demon, who fixed her with an unblinking stare. "We didn't know she was here until we went looking for her back home, in the human world, and found out she'd been taken by a fey to the Nevernever."

"She was not taken," said Demon calmly. "She was merely led."

"I had a suspicion you were behind that," sighed Grimalkin in a bored voice. "The question is, though, why bother?"

"She is part Cait Sith," said Demon simply, shrugging.

"Is that really your whole argument?" Grim looked annoyed. "That you took a fancy in the girl because half of our blood runs in her?"

"You should spend more time in the human world, Grimalkin," purred Demon. "It would serve you well. The girl is not merely tied to our people by blood, but by her own being. The years I spent in and out of her company were quite interesting, really."

"Oh, do tell," said Grim, though he didn't sound in the least interested.

"Your sarcasm still rings loud and clear, cousin," observed Demon. "You'll be quite the bitter old cat if you keep it up."

"He isn't bitter already?" asked Puck in disbelief. Demon purred in amusement while Grimalkin pointedly ignored him.

"Get on with the point, Demon, I am getting impatient with you," the Cait Sith hissed at his larger kin, who looked unperturbed as he glanced around at the bristling gray feline. "The girl! Why were you insane enough to bring the girl here?!"

"Touchy, touchy," muttered Puck, amazed at Grimalkin's uncharacteristic display of anger.

"Calm down, Grimalkin," sighed Demon, dipping his head to groom his chest fur. "I can explain, though I doubt my explanation will make a difference in your mindset regardless, since you would never have done this for the reasons I did."

"On with it," growled Grimalkin.

Demon sighed, lifting his head and gazing almost pityingly at his kin, then glanced down at his paws, lapsing into thought, and murmured, "She's different. In the several years that I remained near to her, I could sense it. She was gentle with me, with all cats, regardless of fey or mortal boundaries. Of course, many humans are gentle with felines of any sort, but it was the fact that she saw me at all that intrigued me. I was watching from the road side outside of her home; she was tending to her neighbor's cat, since the dull witted man can't even seem to give proper affection to the poor animal. The cat was starved for attention, winding around her ankles and purring like a fool.

"And I didn't really think much of it. She was just a typical human playing typical caretaker to a typical human pet. At least, that was what I would have thought if she hadn't looked up when I made to take my leave. I thought perhaps she had noticed something else, but she looked right at me, and smiled. At first, her crooning and pet names irritated me beyond comprehension, but she had fascinated me. She could see me. She was obviously no child, so her recognition of me was astounding."

Demon paused, his expression distant, his eyes glowing with quiet awe as he relived the moment in which he had realized the human could see him for what he was, despite the fact she should never have been able to see him in the first place, plus the fact that his glamour cloak should have kept him even more hidden from her. He remembered just how curious he had been, and how tentatively, like another common mortal cat, he had approached her and the housecat perched on the steps beside her. The orange tabby had barely paid him notice, so caught him in trying to get the girl to resume the petting of his head that he didn't even blink when Demon had ascended the stairs like a shadow and taken a seat cautiously beside the female, who smiled and gently extended her hand to him, palm up. He had acted the proper part, leaning forward to sniff at her proffered hand, and that was when he had truly become fascinated. Her smell was very much human, that much had been certain to him from a mile off, but there was something else he had scented beneath all of that human stench, and he had become curious.

"When I was close enough," he said, speaking aloud again, "I could smell something different about her. It was barely there, but that it _was _there was what stunned me. Like you said, cousin, half of the reason for my bring her here was due to her fey heritage. After all, it explained so much of why she could see me in the first place. But there was more…she didn't treat me or the other feline like simple animals like I am so used to witnessing during my treks in the mortal realm. She might not have truly acknowledged us as anything else than what she assumed us to be, or assumed _me _to be, but she spoke in a similar way to when she would address one of her own kind. After that first encounter I went back several more times, keeping out of sight for at least a little while, and observing her. And each time I noticed something new and different…Not always good things, either."

Nikki had been listening attentively until now, and perked her head in curiosity at Demon's words.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, a little concerned. "Cat wasn't hurt or anything like that, was she?"

"No," murmured Demon without looking up. "Not in a physical sense, anyway… More like…she didn't quite feel at home there. Among her own kind, I only discovered three instances when she looked and sounded truly happy when confronted with her own kind; her own family. The first time was when she and her mother both appeared outside to clean the yard, and she laughed and enjoyed it. The second time, she was on the phone, speaking with a good friend of hers, as she was the third time as well. I never got very close during those times, wanting to see how she faired on her own. But every time when she would be alone, not talking to her mother or whoever those two had been on the phone, she would look so far away and alone. It was interesting… Understandable as it is that not all humans feel connected to their world, she did not feel any real form of happiness unless she was in her mother's company, distantly connected to her close friends, or whenever I showed myself."

"Another lost soul," sniffed Grimalkin. "No wonder you took such a fancy, Demon. You have traveled alone for so long, being as odd as you are."

"You're such a little rat's ass cat, you know that?" Puck demanded, stunned at Grimalkin's tactless behavior towards his kin, but the Cait Sith did not seem bothered by the confrontation or name calling and simply turned his nose up.

"So," he said almost imperiously to Demon, "What finally got you to drag her all the way here? Don't tell me you've made the petty mistake of falling for a human…"

"Hardly," purred Demon, though his expression was guarded as he lifted his head to eye his cousin. "Love is not for our kind. Even I am not so foolish to believe that. But it reminds me of another reason she was so interesting to me. Realize, Grimalkin, that she is part Cait Sith. A Cait Sith does not love, rarely assuming human form if at all—"

Here, he was cut off suddenly by Meghan, whose eyes had widened at his words.

"Wait, you mean you can take human form?" she asked, looking stunned.

"Of course we can," said Grimalkin dully. "It is common practice among fey if we like to blend further into your human world. Though why a Cait Sith would embarrass himself by assuming such a weak, useless form is beyond me."

"Weak, is it?" Demon looked inquiringly at Grimalkin. "Funny you should say that, cousin, considering two of the most powerful rules in the Nevernever, both of whom happen to be standing in this room, are more human than fey. Would you care to suggest that they are not as powerful as the rest of Faery would have us believe?"

Grimalkin did not deign to answer that question, merely twitching his tail and stiffening his shoulders as he glared at his kin, and Puck smirked as he realized he had just witnessed the rare event of someone else managing to get the puffed up fur ball to shut his overconfident yap.

"As I was saying," Demon sighed when he realized he'd finally gotten some peace from Grimalkin, "I had to wonder how the girl could be part Cait Sith. Obviously, her sire would have had to take human form, but what troubled me more than the fact that he had was questioning _why _he had. As I just told you, Cait Siths do not love, and it is not an inherent nature to go about seducing vulnerable humans for entertainments sake. Also, as I have not heard even a whisper of a half Cait Sith, half anything else in all my centuries alive, I felt it safe to assume that Catherine is the only instance of a Cait Sith coupling with anything other than another Cait Sith."

"Which is pretty rare in and of itself," Ash observed, drawing attention to himself as he sat with a thoughtful expression, his silver eyes narrowed at Demon. "Cait Siths are more often than naught born male, as I remember Mab telling me when I was younger. For every female born into your race, there are fifty males, isn't that correct?"

"Indeed, it is," conceded Demon with a small nod at the Prince. "And, currently, we only have forty males."

"So, no females," concluded Glitch from the door with a small smirk. "You guys are just SOL, aren't you?"

"Cait Sith do not die," Ash said as Grimalkin and Demon turned as one to fix the Iron knight with a stony look. "Even if one does end up fading away, they have no real need to keep a constant birthrate among their people."

"And not to mention I hear it's almost impossible to seduce a lady cat," Puck said with a smirk. "They've got a mean bite and aren't afraid to use it."

"You say it like you've tried to do it before," Trinity said with a suspicious glance in the faery's direction.

The jester shrugged, grinning broadly. "Nah, not me," he said. "Just a couple centuries back I happened to come up on this really sorry looking cat and asked what had tried to eat him and he eventually admitted after some innocent questioning of mine that he'd gotten the wrong end of his lady friend."

"You really have no sense of shame, do you, Goodfellow?" sighed Ash, rolling his eyes. "Couldn't you leave the poor bastard to lick his wounds in peace without adding insult to injury?"

"Good sir, do you really know me?" asked Puck, turning on Ash with an affronted look. "I am Robin freaking Goodfellow."

"Which is short-speak for 'I'm a nosy little jackass'," snorted Trinity, earning a glare from Puck.

"In any case," said Meghan quietly, looking imploringly at Demon, who had taken the opportunity of distraction to wash his front paw. "Demon, could you just give us a straight reason why you brought Catherine here? We have other questions, too…"

"Of course," murmured the black cat, lifting his head to look at the Iron Queen. "I brought the girl here for two reasons, really. The first being to uncover answers to suit my own curiosity regarding her heritage and powers, and also because she asked me to bring her here to search for her sire."

"Her dad?" Nikki frowned. "And how do you expect to do that? Isn't it hard to find your own kind already? And what if her father isn't even alive anymore?"

"As much as I hate to say it, I seriously doubt her sire has passed on in the past decade or two," Grimalkin said dully from his perch, looking bored. "Cait Sith do not die easily, if at all, and a human's lifespan is hardly enough time for me to take a proper bath, so to consider that a Cait Sith may have died in that time is almost laughable."

"And yet no one's even cracking a smile," observed Puck. "So, you're looking for her dad, and to find out what kind of abilities she has. Isn't that kind of self-serving?"

"Self-serving would be he walks her through the wyldwood and to all five corners of the Nevernever, minding his own business should she get into danger," Grimalkin said. "What he is doing is giving his protection to a half human fool in exchange for answers that could easily get him stuck in a very dark place."

"You always were such a bright little sunspot, cousin," sighed Demon wearily. "Someday, I hope you choke on that cynicism of yours and see how well it served you."

"Don't feel the need to hold your breath," Grimalkin retorted icily, his fur bristling.

"Break it up, guys," Nikki warned them, stepping forward with her hands outstretched, "Otherwise the healer will be back over here and probably drug the both of you."

Grimalkin snorted his disbelief, but Demon was eyeing the healer warily, though the hag had her back firmly turned as she went about her business, seemingly unaware of the minor squabble behind her.

"Demon," Nikki said then, turning to the black cat, who perked his ears but kept his wary eyes fixed on Old Spindle. "I need to ask, just how safe is Catherine with you?"

"What a stupid question," muttered Grimalkin, thumping his tail.

"Would you shut up for a couple seconds, fur ball, the lady is talking," snapped Puck, his temper rising a little as Nikki flashed a small frown in Grimalkin's direction.

"I am merely stating that it is foolish to question the safety of one guarded by a Cait Sith," Grimalkin murmured, his yellow eyes narrowing at the Summer faery. "Though it is even more foolish that a Cait Sith would risk his own safety in the first place to protect a mere human."

"And that is where we will always differ, cousin," said Demon softly. "You will always be a coward who cares for no one but himself and his own interests, and I shall be the foolish runt of the litter who takes some solace in protecting the weary souls of humanity and fey alike."

"Disgraceful," muttered Grimalkin while Nikki looked at Demon, wondering how such a large cat could be considered a 'runt' by any standard. "Really, I cannot believe yet another Cait Sith has let himself become the simpering guide of man."

"Another?" Trinity looked up in surprise. "What do you mean 'another'? There have been other Cait Siths who have watched out for humans?"

"Not humans, exactly," denied Grimalkin, his tone somewhat disgruntled. "And only two Cait Siths in the entire history of cats have ever been foolhardy enough to take it upon themselves to guide the lost and the weak. Though I can hardly go so far as to compare you"—he shot a look at Demon—"to _him_."

"And I would not wish you to," replied Demon. "_He _is not someone easily measured up to, and I am not so stupid as to believe I will ever equate to his greatness, though if you are about to suggest that he was weak and a fool to guide the Morningstar, I will have to question your intelligence on the matter."

"I would never say such a thing," Grimalkin said tersely, drawing himself up to his full two-foot height, tail lashing furiously. "That would be heresy."

"I am glad you recognize it as such, then," yawned Demon, resting his head on his paws, as though suddenly weary of the conversation. "Now, as to the safety of Catherine, I can say with near absolute certainty that so long as she is under my watch she is safe."

There was a derisive snort at his words, but it came from Old Spindle this time as the hag feverishly mixed herbs into the massive cauldron sitting in her fireplace.

"You speak of protecting the girl so easily," the goblin said without turning, sounding annoyed, "And yet you nearly lost your leg to a group of redcaps just to keep her from a little scrape!"

"I did what was necessary," said Demon complacently, unabashed.

"Necessary?!" The wooden ladle in Spindle's hand clanged loudly against the side of the wrought iron cauldron as she slammed it down and turned on her heel to glare at Demon. "Necessary would be getting the ungrateful whelp to take what's good for her so she doesn't go traversing through the wyldwood half mad with sleeplessness! Necessary would be giving her a few good whacks over the head to nail in the point that if she wants to survive here, she'll do what the healer tells her!"

"She's alive, isn't she?" Demon asked wearily. Apparently, he and the healer had had this conversation before, judging by the boredom that made up his expression.

"Ha! And you're damn lucky she is!" snapped Spindle, hands on her scrawny hips. "I wonder what you'd be thinking if that Prince hadn't come prancing in to save the day for her! She's lucky she didn't get attacked from here to the border! And don't even tell me you weren't coming out of your pretty fur coat worrying away for her when she didn't return last evening! You were all ready to go charging off into the woods like a minotaur with no brain and what good what you have done for either of you if she _had _been in trouble and you come limping in to save the day?"

Demon was no longer listening by this point, too absorbed in the cleaning of his injured leg to pay much notice to the ranting goblin, who, realizing she'd lost her audience, hissed a few curses at the Cait Sith before turning back to her cauldron and seizing the ladle. Her stirring was much more hectic than before and several times she clanged the side of the pot loudly with the spoon as she worked, muttering under her breath about stupid cats and ungrateful half-breeds.

"Well, that was interesting," mused Puck, eyeing Spindle's hunched shoulders with wide emerald eyes. "I take it that happens often?"

He glanced at Demon, who flicked his ears almost contemptuously.

"Every day since we've been here," he confided softly. "It's as though she expects me to get a stubborn girl to take her medicine. Really, it isn't the refusal to take it that bothers me, so much as trying to find out the cause. If you can kill the cause, medicine is totally unnecessary."

"You don't know why she can't sleep?" Nikki felt a pull on her heart. That had been one of her pre-planned questions. Since hearing from Bane that Catherine had apparently been discovered as lacking a full week of proper sleep, she had been concerned for her friend.

It just didn't sound like something Catherine did, and she knew her friend well. If Catherine wasn't sleeping, there was a major problem, and if Demon had been with her for all this time and couldn't figure out what the issue was, Nikki felt she'd have a harder time getting an answer from Catherine.

In the mean time, Demon was frowning at Nikki as he shook his head. "I am afraid I do not. When I first noticed that her sleeping habits had changed, I tried asking her what had happened, but all she ever told me was that she felt homesick. I prompted her to go home for a while, just to rest, but she didn't want to leave Faery. It also occurred to me that maybe her human half wasn't strong enough to resist losing a little sanity here in the Nevernever, but the symptoms would have been much more obvious than exhaustion and an inability to react with normal reflexes. She would be clearly insane at this point, and as the familiar explained to me earlier that she was easily put under by a nightshade draft I concluded it was simply some trouble that was causing her to lose sleep rather than slipping into insanity."

"But it doesn't sound at all like something Cat would be doing," murmured Trinity, her thoughts along the same track as Nikki's, and when Demon turned to fix the girl with a curious look, she had her blonde head bowed, chewing on her lower lip. "Cat _always _sleeps. It's who she is. It's a stupid habit of hers, but she sleeps at least five hours every night, even if she doesn't feel tired. And if she doesn't manage to sleep through the night, she'll sleep through the day to catch back up as much as she can. She doesn't just stay up for days on end and not even try to sleep."

She lifted her head to fix Demon with an anxious sapphire gaze and asked, "Did she take anything to help her sleep before she ended up with the Prince?"

"Spindle tried to give her several different potions," Demon said. "Nightshade, Lycan Root, but she always managed to pour them out when neither of us were looking. We knew she hadn't drunken them, because she'd never tell us straight that she _had_, but there was nothing I could do. If she chose not to take the herbs, it wasn't my place to force her compliance. Besides," his eyes glowed with amusement, "Spindle was handling that just fine on her own. Or attempting to."

A loud clang behind them as Spindle irritably slammed her ladle against the table beside her had a couple of them turning their heads to stare at the grumbling hag as she threw handfuls of herbs with excessive force into her cauldron. Demon sighed and shook his head, sobering up again and frowning at Nikki and Trinity.

"I wish I could tell you I knew more about what's going on with Catherine," he told them mournfully, "But I'm afraid I'm no mind reader, and I have observed her long enough to know she would not like me to pry into it if she has not already decided to clue me in on what's happening."

"That's definitely Cat," murmured Trinity with a frown of her own, her sapphire eyes glowing anxiously. "She doesn't want to tell you something, she doesn't. If she does, then she does. Either it means she doesn't trust you right now, or she thinks you'd call the problem stupid or blow it off."

"Yeah," agreed Nikki with a small nod. "Or both."

"I can understand not trusting me," Demon said with a small nod, "Though I would hope she knows by now that I would not laugh at her problems or consider them of no consequence. I'd be stupid to do such a thing after seeing the toll it has taken on her, and, inadvertently, on myself as well."

He flexed his hind leg as he said this, his eyes narrowing in pain as his injury throbbed and burned. It was much better than it had been several days previously, but it still gave him grief, though he suspected with time it would be as good as new. He was thankful at least that redcaps were not known as having venomous qualities to their saliva, though he wouldn't doubt they carried a few nasty germs with them to make up for it.

"Either way," said Trinity softly, "If something is really bothering Cat this badly, we've got to figure out what it is so we can hurry up and help her fix it."

"Maybe it's something that's not easily fixed," suggested Ash from his seat, looking pensive. "If it were, don't you think she would have taken care of it herself by now?"

Nikki and Trinity exchanged uncertain looks, though they were thinking the same thing. Ash was right. Cat _would _have taken care of the problem before now; assuming she could that was. If it was homesickness, she would have gone home to her family. If it were an illness, she would have taken medicine. But she had neither gone home nor taken medication. So what else could be going on? And why hadn't Cat taken care of it before now?

"Demon, please think," Trinity implored the Cait Sith then. "Is there _anything _that's happened in the past week that you would think could have set her off like this? I'm telling you, it's totally unlike her."

"I believe you, human," Demon murmured, his whiskers twitching. "It is unnecessary to repeat yourself. Though I know also that I have not been in Catherine's company any near as long as the two of you undoubtedly have been—and since I'm starting to suspect the two of you are the two good friends she takes such comfort in—I can at least say that I have known her long enough to know this is not her typical way of carrying on. And I have spent the past week contemplating perpetual difficulties that could have brought this about, and can only think of one, though it seems unlikely."

"And that would be what, exactly?" asked Puck, growing a little frustrated and impatient as he waited for the Cait Sith to finish beating around the bush. Even if Demon and Grimalkin were nothing alike in any other way, he could at least see that riddles and roundabout talk were a trait of cats and it was irritating him.

Demon glanced across the room at him, eyes narrowed, and after a moment's uncomfortable pause he sighed and murmured, "A man."

"What?" Nikki's eyes grew very wide. "A man? You mean, like she met someone already?"

"In a manner of speaking," Demon said, shrugging his shoulders. "Not quite in the way I think you are taking me to mean, but she has encountered several people since our arrival here, but this constant non-sleeping behavior did not start until a week ago when we departed from Tir Na Nog after spending nearly a fortnight there while she recovered from a broken ankle."

"Wait, two weeks ago?" Trinity looked aghast. "She shouldn't be walking on a broken ankle after only three weeks!"

"Keep your head, would you, human?" sighed Grimalkin. "I would have thought you'd know by now that here in Faery things are different, especially for you half humans. You heal much faster than you would otherwise. I would not be surprised if the girl is completely healed."

"She is," Demon commented unnecessarily.

"But that's not the point you were making just now," Nikki said, looking very uneasy now. "You said a week ago you'd left Tir Na Nog and a guy had been involved."

"Sage," said Trinity quietly, and Nikki turned her head to stare at her friend. "A week ago, Cat was in Tir Na Nog with Prince Sage, remember? Bane told us that last night. She was healing there after having fallen and broken her ankle. He was taking care of her and Demon and making sure no one found them. 'No one' meaning Rowan or Mab, specifically. And Bane told us Cat hadn't been in Tir Na Nog for almost a week."

"That's right," said Meghan, also wide eyed as she looked at Trinity. "So…" She turned back to Demon with a confused expression, "You think something happened between her and Sage?"

"I do not think anything of the sort," said Demon, which did nothing except to confuse the people around him, except perhaps Grimalkin, who looked so disinterested in the entire conversation that he was watching a robin just outside the window as it pecked curiously at the glass. "I was with Catherine every hour of every day during her stay in Tir Na Nog. Nothing transpired between her and the Prince except civil conversation, but that does not necessarily mean nothing happened in the depths of the heart and mind where I cannot see."

"You think she's flipped her lid and fallen for ice-boy's even icier older sibling?" Puck asked, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. "Seems a bit far out there, don't you think, cat?"

"The human heart is a complex and dangerous thing," Demon said, fixing Puck with a half-lidded, yellow-green stare. "Who is to say what could or could not happen? And you are forgetting Catherine is still half human. Humans are quite susceptible to the beauty and mystery that cloaks the sidhes of Winter, particularly the royal family."

His eyes fell now on Ash, who met the cat's gaze while Meghan looped her arm gently through her knight's.

"It is very much possible she has fallen for him," Demon finished softly.

"I don't think so," Nikki said then, her voice stern.

Demon pricked his ears and swiveled his head around in mild surprise to blink at the girl, who was looking down at the floor, her chocolate brown eyes dark with thought.

"Cat may think he's a good looking guy, whatever he looks like," Nikki said, speaking to the floor rather than to the group around her, all of whom were watching her. "Even if he has that unforgettable charm going for him, she wouldn't lose sleep over some hot guy. Maybe a night or two, but not a whole week, especially if there wasn't anything going on between them."

"And I remember Sage," said Meghan quietly, "From the time when I was stuck in Tir Na Nog. He was gentlemanly, but he never gave off the impression of being one to fool a girl into thinking he cared anything about her. So unless he somehow used his glamour on Catherine, I don't see how he'd keep her enthralled."

"You don't think he glamoured her?" asked Puck, surprised.

"No, I don't," said Meghan, shaking her head. "It's not his way. He's too straight forward for something like that."

"She's right," Ash put in. "Sage doesn't play around. He'll get straight to the point, or he won't make one at all. He doesn't toy around with things the way Rowan does or avoid the issue completely like I used to."

Something about the Iron Prince's words seemed to strike Puck as funny for the faery let out a laugh and nearly rolled off his perch as he snickered.

"Used to," he says, the faery chuckled as Ash glared up questioningly at the Summer fey. "Like it's a past tense…"

Ash sighed and rolled his eyes. "Do shut up, Goodfellow."

"Sure thing, your highness," Puck was still chortling as he gave a mocking salute.

"Puck, focus, please," Nikki said a little irritably. "We're trying to figure out why Cat is going off the deep end here and so far we're coming up empty, so unless you'd like to pitch in an idea, could you at least tone it down a bit so I can think?"

Puck's emerald eyes looked surprised as he turned them on Nikki, and for a moment an expression of something like hurt crossed his face, but then he noticed just how pale the girl was, and how tired she looked—though they'd gotten a good enough rest the night before—not to mention her lips were trembling as though she was on the verge of tears, and he relaxed, letting a small, apologetic smile touch his face as he slid down from his cabinet perch and made his way over to her as she stood with her arms tight around herself, looking very much lost.

"Hey," he said, dropping his arm gently across her shoulders and pulling her under his wing, "I'm sorry… I know you're worried about her again."

Without really thinking about it, Nikki leaned into him with a deep sigh, letting her eyes flutter shut as she nuzzled against his shoulder.

"I'm scared," she murmured helplessly. "I thought it'd all be over once we found her. That we could just go on our way without having to worry about anything else, but she's sick and it sounds like there's nothing I can do about it other than drug her up and hope for the best."

Puck gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Sometimes it's all you can do," he said quietly, resting his chin on top of her head. "But if Cat is anything like you and Trinity, I'm willing to bet she'll bounce back fast, especially once she comes back and sees you two here for her. I can't imagine she's been feeling totally buddy-buddy with her new friend." He flashed a grin at Demon. "No offense, cat."

"None taken, Goodfellow," said Demon, though his tone seemed a little stiff as he twitched the tip of his tail.

Puck smirked and looked back down at Nikki, who was still looking very tired and very worried as she opened her dark eyes to stare at him. He hated that. Nikki shouldn't have to keep worrying about things like this. She'd come here to the Nevernever to have fun, to fit in, and to leave all her cares behind, and she had to stand here instead worrying about her friend—who had not only gotten lost and trapped a couple times in Tir Na Nog—but was now suffering a mysterious case of insomnia that might or might not be the result of being smitten with a Prince of Winter. It just didn't seem fair that Nikki should have to deal with so much crap…Hadn't she dealt with enough already?

Tightening his arm a fraction around her, Puck bent his head to brush a kiss across the top of her mahogany colored hair. Nikki's eyes grew wide at the feather light touch, and she felt her heart give a moderately hard thump as she curled a hand in Puck's shirt, gazing up at him. He pulled back to smile down at her and gave his trademark wink.

"We'll figure this out," he told her softly. "I promise. And you know I don't break my promises."

Nikki smiled slightly. "Because I'd kill you if you did," she told him in a weak attempt at humor that nonetheless had him laughing.

"Right, right," he said, grinning hugely. "So would Tri, for that matter."

"Damn straight," muttered Trinity from their right, also giving a wry smirk.

"We still have a problem," Tertius pointed out from the door, "Like what exactly is getting your friend so out of it?"

"I thought we decided it was the Prince," said Glitch.

"No, we decided it wasn't," Tertius informed him with a shake of his dark head. "According to Nicolette, it's got to be something else, unless the Prince somehow used glamour on her, which the Queen and Prince Ash believe is incorrect."

"So we're back to square one," sighed Glitch, rolling his violet eyes. "Joy. Alright, it's not a guy. It's not homesickness. What is it?"

They all lapsed into thoughtful silence, not speaking. Spindle still moved about, clattering noisily about the hut, but no one really seemed to take notice of her now. Finally, after a good few minutes of silence, Nikki sighed and shook her head morosely.

"I've got nothing," she said, shrugging.

"Me neither," muttered Trinity, looking annoyed. "We'll just have to ask her when she gets here."

"She might not want to tell everyone about it, Tri," Nikki pointed out to her friend. "She didn't tell Demon and he's the only one she's had to confide in for a while. She doesn't even know everyone else yet. And how do you think she's going to feel walking in on all of us here waiting for her?"

"A little freaked out, I'd imagine," Puck guessed idly. "She doesn't do crowds does she?"

"She _hates _crowds," Nikki and Trinity confirmed in unison.

"Thought so," sighed the Summer prankster, rolling his eyes. "You cats," he said, turning to give Grimalkin and Demon an appraising eye, "You're just a lot of anti-social kittens, aren't you?"

Neither cat answered him, but gave him identical looks of annoyance that had him snickering in amusement while Nikki tried to get him to shut up unless he ended up upsetting Grimalkin or the injured Demon.

"Anyway," said Ash slowly, rubbing at a tick going in his forehead as he tried to drown out Puck's laughter, "If Nicolette believes it would be best to have only her and Trinity speak to Catherine, the rest of us should at least step out when she arrives. She doesn't need to be anymore overwhelmed than she undoubtedly is."

Meghan nodded in agreement, then asked, "So, when do you think she would be getting here?"

"Well, we can't really guess," Ash said, shrugging his lean shoulders. "Since none of us have any idea of the exact location of the lodge, and we don't know how close Bane was to it when we encountered him, it could be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours."

"Not to mention she could easily still be asleep," Demon pointed out. "The familiar made sure to tell me she might not wake from sleep for another day at the very most."

"So she might not even get here until tomorrow," said Glitch, sounding weary. Tertius gave his partner a critical look and Glitch frowned and said, "I'm just saying it's a bit of a time to be waiting for her."

"We are to stay here unless otherwise ordered," Tertius murmured.

"I know that," snapped his comrade, looking annoyed. "I didn't say I was going anywhere without permission, did I?"

"But you don't want to be here," Tertius observed, his silver eyes glinting.

"I didn't say that either!" Glitch glared at the other knight.

"Children, play nicely," Meghan said lightly and both knights turned away from each other, Glitch snorting quietly in derision while Tertius sighed and looked at the ceiling. "Glitch, I know it's a long time to wait if Catherine won't be here until tomorrow, but I don't really want to just leave beforehand and have it end up that she and Nikki and Trinity somehow need our help getting back to Summer or something. Demon's not in the best condition to protect Catherine if she's still weak, and Puck can't protect both Trinity _and _Nikki, even if he thinks he can."

"And there goes my ego," sighed Puck dramatically, clutching at his heart. "Yes, I can feel it shrinking…turning in on itself…like a prune…a raisin…"

"Someone shut him up," said Ash dully. He was getting a headache…

He could even hear the pounding in his head, like the slow but insistent knocking at a door… Wait that _was _the door…

Sitting up as everyone else in the room turned rapidly to the door where yet another soft series of knocks were falling against the wooden door, he turned his gaze on Spindle as the goblin muttered a low oath and went shuffling over to the door.

"What?" she snapped at the poor soul behind the door.

"Just a thrill, isn't she?" Puck muttered with a grimace, as in his arms Nikki was holding her breath, her eyes huge as she stared at Spindle's hunched back approaching the door. Turning her head, Nikki locked frantic gazes with Trinity, who had both hands to her chest, and was also very obviously not breathing.

As Spindle walked to the door, Glitch and Tertius quickly scurried out of the way as the goblin swung at their knees with her ladle, snapping at them to clear the way and instead took up positions behind their Queen and Prince as the healer finally reached up for the handle of the door and pulled, letting it swing open.

"What do you—oh," Spindle stopped, mid-sentence, her irritated expression melting into one of recognition as she tilted her head up to look into Catherine's pale, careworn face as the girl stood lamely on the threshold. "It's you, lass. Well, come on in, then. You've got people waiting for you."

Stepping aside, the goblin let the girl sweep past her, and Nikki felt tears burn in her eyes as Catherine finally lifted her dull, emerald gaze to look straight at her. The girl stopped dead just a few feet past the door, as surely as if she'd been turned to ice, but her eyes grew round with shock and her mouth fell open slightly as she and Nikki gazed at each other. Trinity stirred in her corner, and Catherine immediately looked at her fair haired friend, who was looking close to tears as well as she stepped up beside Nikki.

"Cat," she croaked out, her throat closing momentarily so she swallowed hard.

Catherine stared at the pair of her friends, almost uncomprehending, completely still and not speaking. From the sidelines, Ash, Meghan, Glitch and Tertius watched in silence, and even Puck had slipped away from Nikki to stand to the side beside Demon, both of them watching uncertainly as the three girls stood stock still, gaping at each other.

Nikki felt scared as she looked at her friend, not because Catherine looked so pale and obviously sick that her usually bright, radiant face was a pale reminder of what it had once been, but because the girl looked almost as though she didn't recognize them, though she knew in a heartbeat as Catherine's eyes filled with tears that she'd been wrong to think that any amount of time spent in Faery would ever make Catherine forget them. Choking on a sob she ran forward to her friend as Cat took a trembling step forward and they fell into each other, tears streaming down their face, and Trinity joined them so all three girls were standing in a sobbing, trembling group, arms tightly around each other as Catherine sobbed openly into Nikki's shoulder.

"It's okay," Nikki choked out, running a hand up and down Catherine's back, though she was also practically drowning in her tears as Catherine kept a near death grip around her neck, "It's okay Cat. We're here. It's okay now."

Catherine didn't speak, but nodded her head mutely, her entire body wracked with sobs as Trinity embraced both of them from behind. She should have known, she thought. She should have known Nikki and Trinity would be the ones to come looking for her, but she had never, in a million years, have guessed it, because by all reasoning neither of them should be able to set foot in the Nevernever. But here they were, waiting for her. They had been looking for her all this time...

"It's okay," Nikki whispered again through her tears, and Catherine choked on a loud sob, unable to even speak.

During all of this, Demon and the others looked on in respectful silence, and Meghan had tears in her eyes as well, just to see the kind of friendship between the three girls. If she had to really be honest, she would say the three girls reminded her off three friends she used to know, a prince, a half-breed and a Summer faery, but something about Catherine, Nikki and Trinity was distinctly different from hers, Ash's and Puck's friendship. It was much more solid, more confirmed, like nothing in the world would ever tear them apart, and, looking at the trio of weeping girls, she could really believe that nothing ever would. Even if the world came apart, those three would continue to stand by each other. It was that friendship, after all, that had brought Nikki and Trinity this far to find Catherine, and how Catherine had managed to survive so long in the human world when everything else around her hadn't made her feel like she belonged there.

"True magic," sighed a creaky voice by Meghan's elbow, startling her slightly.

Looking down, it was to see Old Spindle standing reverently beside her, looking at the three half human friends clinging to each other as they cried.

"Magic?" Meghan blinked curiously at the healer, who nodded solemnly.

"It takes a lot of love and force to make a friendship that powerful," she murmured, black beady eyes gazing off into the distance without really seeing. "We fey will never really understand it, because we have never been raised with a very prominent human ideal that allows those three to form such strong ties."

"What ideal is that?" Ash asked quietly, also looking down at the goblin, who meditated a moment before murmuring,

"The will to never give up, no matter what. Only humans possess this trait, which makes them magical in their own way. It is that trait, in fact, that led you to where you stand today, Iron Queen"—she glanced up at Meghan—"And you can thank your human heritage for allowing you to make it so far. No fey could ever do as much."

Meghan was lost for words as she gazed down in amazement at the healer, who blinked her beetle-black eyes once before tottering away, back to her cauldron, making sure not to disturb the still crying girls standing in the center of her hut as she went. Meghan glanced at Ash then, and saw her prince watching her with a very thoughtful expression.

"What?" she whispered to him, bewildered.

The prince's lips quirked in a small smile. "Just remembering how I always thought that particular trait of yours would someday be the death of you, or me…But instead it led to the building of a kingdom and the rise of a Queen. Funny how things like that play out, don't you think?"

"If you say so, your highness" she said with a small snort, then turned her attention back to Catherine, Nikki and Trinity, who were still standing in their little group, not quite sobbing anymore but still with tears running down their faces.

Nikki had her hand resting on Catherine's copper colored head, gently petting her hair and murmuring reassurances through her sniffling, while Trinity had both of her long arms wrapped around the pair of her friends, not speaking, but her blue eyes spoke volumes.

"One of us needs to break them up," Ash murmured softly.

"Why?" demanded Meghan, appalled. "There's no rush, Ash, let them have their moment."

"Much as I'd love to, Meghan, we are actually in a bit of a hurry," Ash said, leaning towards her to speak into her ear. "Catherine is ill, I can see that from here. She should have been resting from the nightshade draft, and I'm sure she did, but she doesn't look as well as she should, either."

"Meaning what?" Meghan prompted him, frowning.

"That I think something else happened in between her waking up and her getting here," Ash replied quietly. "She should be much better, even if only from one night of sleep, but she isn't. Her illness isn't just physical; it's mental or emotional, possibly even both."

Still frowning, Meghan turned her eyes back on Catherine, just able to make out the girl's face from where it rested on Nikki's shoulders. Her eyes were a bright emerald color, almost like Puck's, and, though bright with tears, still seemed dull and flat, almost lifeless. Her cheeks were slightly rosy from her crying, but they still seemed pale and slightly hollow. Meghan didn't know much of how Catherine normally looked, but she sensed that this wasn't it. She looked too sick, too drained. And if Ash said even one night of sleep from a draught of nightshade should have helped to look and feel better, and she wasn't, then he was right. Something else was wrong.

She had suspected it from the beginning, since they'd spoken to Demon, but she had secretly hoped that Catherine's ailment, whatever it was, was due more in part to some physical stress than a mental or emotional one. Physical illness was more easily treated than ones of the heart or mind. This only meant that the healing process for Catherine would take more than a couple potions and the presence of her friends.

Exchanging a long glance with Ash, Meghan finally sighed and rose to her feet ready to be the intervening force between the newly reunited females, she was surprised when Nikki lifted her head, sniffling quietly, and gently pulled away from Catherine to look her friend in the face. Trinity also moved back slightly, but all three girls kept firm grips on each other's hands or arms. Catherine blinked away her tears, wiping at them with the back of her hand, and Nikki grinned weakly as she lifted a hand to dab at her own tears with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Man, that kind of sucked," she said in a trembling voice. Catherine gave a watery laugh and shook her head, sending her short copper tresses flying. Trinity hiccupped quietly and sniffled.

"I can't believe you guys are actually here," Catherine mumbled, wiping more fervently at her tears as they threatened to well up again. "Sage told me…he told me Bane had found friends looking for me, but I didn't know who it was…"

Nikki frowned slightly as Catherine spoke. Her friend had very clearly stumbled over the Prince's name, and didn't quite meet Nikki's eyes when she said it. But, doing the better thing for the moment and ignoring the insistent twisting of her gut, she said firmly,

"Of course we're here. Where the hell else would we be? Other than the human world, I mean."

Catherine laughed again and ducked her head, sniffing.

"We were freaking out about where you were," Trinity put in, hugging her friend tightly from behind. "We didn't know you were here until we went to look for you at your apartment and you were gone. We thought you'd been abducted."

"No," said Catherine, shaking her head. "Not abducted. And I would have told you guys, but I didn't think you knew anything about it…I mean, come on, if I'd come to you a month ago and told you there was a magical faery kingdom right under our noses, would you have honestly believed me?"

She looked up to see both Trinity and Nikki giving her sheepish looks and grinning.

"Probably not," admitted Tri. "I guess we were kind of stupid to go looking for you when we didn't even know then that you were half-human like us, but we were just so excited about finding out about this place that we wanted you to know about it, too, even if you couldn't stay because you'd eventually go totally nuts."

"That would definitely have been a problem," agreed Catherine, smiling, her eyes still watering and slightly red. "But, looks like that's old news, now, huh?"

"Totally," agreed Nikki, beaming. "Now we can all be here and not have to worry about who's checking who into an insane asylum."

"That's definitely a worry I can do without," Trinity sighed shakily, wiping her sleeve across her face to clear the wetness from her face.

"Me, too," said Catherine, nodding.

They lapsed into silence, staring at each other for what seemed a long time, then Catherine heaved a deep sigh, closing her eyes for a minute and trying to push down more tears. Nikki and Trinity…her two best friends… God, it seemed almost too good to be true… As she opened her eyes, remembering that they weren't quite alone in the hut, her gaze found a large black cat watching her with glowing yellow-green eyes, and a chill of foreboding crept over her. Demon was watching her without speaking, his expression calm, though the twitching of his tail gave away his anxiety, and in the back of her mind she suspected that if not for his injury he would be at her feet, checking to make sure she was alright, but at the moment, staring back at him, an unwelcome memory floated to the surface of her mind.

A memory of a Winter Prince coldly remarking on how it made no sense for a Cait Sith to take an interest in a girl like her, half-Cait Sith or not, without expecting some repayment for bringing her here and looking out for her, as Demon had. Cait Siths by nature were self-serving, egocentric beings, and did nothing for free… So why was Demon?

Catherine felt her lower lip quivering again, and her eyes began to burn as she took a slow step around Nikki, for the moment releasing her friend's arm and slipping away from both girls to approach Demon, who perked his ears attentively as she came nearer. His whiskers twitched in her direction, clearly trying to feel her emotions or thoughts just by what he could scent, but he did not speak as she stepped in front of him, gazing down to where he lay in the bed of moss and straw with over bright green eyes. Questions circled in her mind like rabid wolves, lurking at the edge, ready to spring forward and erupt in a rush from her, but she bit down on her lip and forced herself to stay calm. She couldn't explode at Demon…she didn't want to.

Really, she didn't want to believe that he was in league with anyone, trying to make her follow along like a puppet on strings, to claim his reward for whatever he'd been ordered to do with her. Especially not if he was really somehow in league with the Cait Sith who had fathered her, but so many things were unanswered now. Why was he with her? Why had he even bothered in the first place? Why protect her? Why help her?

She had to know…

Taking a deep, shuddering breath she closed her eyes, forming a single, solid question in her mind then let her gaze fall back to Demon, who was sitting silently, waiting and watching quietly.

"Demon," she said, and her voice came out hoarse and trembling. "I…I have to ask you a question, and I want to know you'll give me a straight answer…"

Demon blinked once, a slow closing and opening of his yellow-green eyes, as he held her gaze.

"Of course," he murmured after a moment. "Ask anything."

"I want you to give me your word that you won't avoid the question," she told him, her hands clenching into fists at her side. "Promise me."

The Cait Sith's eyes widened a fraction, then his expression mellowed out and he nodded his dark head.

"You have my oath," he said softly. "On my honor as a Cait Sith, I will give you the answer you ask of me."

Catherine nodded once to him, feeling her gut twisting in knots so she felt slightly sick. Taking a few more calming breaths while her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest, and trying to ignore the feel of what seemed like a thousand eyes on her as Nikki and Trinity and the other several people gathered there watched her, Catherine steeled herself, and asked her question.

"Did you bring me here to Faery," she said in a quavering voice, "On the orders of anyone in the entire Nevernever? Or did you bring me here because _you_, and only you,wanted to?"

Nikki didn't quite understand what was going on as her friend confronted Demon, but the Cait Sith seemed to take everything calmly, and Nikki knew somehow that whatever her friend was really asking of the cat was of the utmost seriousness. Even Trinity seemed to sense it, and from his sunlit perch Grimalkin turned his head to gaze down at Catherine and Demon as the two faced each other, neither one blinking or speaking.

Catherine was struggling to stay composed, but she could feel herself coming apart at the seams. She felt so low asking Demon this, because she felt it was voicing her mistrust of him when he'd never given her any reason not to believe in anything other than what he'd told her—and he couldn't lie. But she knew if she didn't ask now, there would always be that doubt in the back of her mind whether Demon had really cared what happened to her when he brought her here, or what his real motives were in bringing her here had been in the first place. She had already let herself be fooled once into thinking someone in Faery had ever cared about her, and she wasn't about to let it happen again.

So she stood and waited for Demon's answer, her heart feeling like it was jack hammering into her ribs, and prayed to God that he wouldn't say the words she feared. She didn't think she could take it to find out someone else had betrayed her…

And looking up at her, Demon could see the conflict burning in the emerald depths of her eyes, and frowned. He could sense something was entirely different about Catherine, though not in any magical sense he could decipher. She was not under the influence of faery glamour, but he could tell she had changed… Whatever had happened in the time she had been away from him, something had happened… He wanted to ask what, but now was not his turn to be asking questions. It was hers, and he could also see very clearly that a lot rested in his answer to her question.

Opening his mouth, he murmured quietly, "I brought you here for myself. I brought you here because when I met you in the human world I could tell you were different, and I wanted to see for myself how different you were. I never once contemplated using the interest of another as a reason to bring you here or to gather favor with anyone that resides here in Faery. What I did, why I brought you here, I only did for myself and no one else. I could tell you belonged here, rather than in the human world, and for that reason brought you to this world."

Catherine felt her knees go weak, and nearly lost her precarious grip on her self-control at Demon's words, but she put out a hand to steady herself on the edge of the makeshift nest and forced herself to remain upright. He had answered one question, but she still had one more, and she couldn't risk going to pieces quite yet.

"And one more question," she said softly, and Demon pricked his ears alertly, "One I should have asked when I first came here…Do you know who my father is? And are you hiding his identity from me?"

Demon blinked once, as before.

"No, I do not," he replied calmly. "At least, I do not know any Cait Sith who have claimed you as his daughter. It is entirely possible I have met him and merely do not know that he is the one who sired you on your human mother nearly twenty years ago."

And with that said, Catherine finally lost hold of herself and let her knees slowly give way underneath her.

"Thank God," she whispered in relief, a hand going to cover her face, tears welling up fast, and then she sank down to her knees on the floor, in total meltdown mode.

"Catherine!" Demon clambered to his paws, wincing as his leg gave a nasty throb, and hopped down clumsily to the girl's side as Nikki and Trinity came up, looking panicked. "Catherine, what's wrong?"

He put both bows on one of the girl's knees, nosing at her hands, trying to get her to move them away from her face, but she shook her head and wept quietly. Nikki knelt down on the girl's right as Trinity took the left, both girls looking totally helpless as they put their arms around Catherine and held her. Catherine sank into Nikki, still crying senselessly, and Demon's ears went back as he stared up in concern. He purred quietly in his best attempt at reassurance as he climbed tentatively into Catherine's lap, brushing his whiskered face against her hands again, ignoring the look of pure disdain and shock Grimalkin was giving him, and rasped a pink tongue across the girl's tear dampened chin.

"What the hell is going on?" whispered Puck then in an aside to Ash, staring in concern and disbelief to where Nikki was kneeling with Catherine. The prince merely shook his head, frowning severely, also completely at a loss for what to say, think or do about the peculiar situation.

Puck frowned as well, his emerald eyes uncertain as they met Nikki's as the girl lifted her head to peer over Catherine's shoulder at him, and he could see that she was just as scared and hopelessly lost as he felt as she cradled her best friend to her. Now, more than before, since he'd seen it for himself as well as reflected in Nikki's dark eyes, Puck knew something was seriously wrong with Catherine, and he felt like shit to be standing there uselessly while Nikki tried to console her friend. But he couldn't think of anything he could do at this point other than stand and watch—which he'd never liked doing to begin with for any reason—and hope that eventually, not even soon but eventually, something would come to light, and they might be able to puzzle their way out of this new problem.


	9. Chapter 9

Catherine cried for a while, but when she finally managed to stop, nearly an hour after having started, completely crying herself out, she could only lay exhausted in Nikki's arms with Demon curled up in her lap and gaze up through red rimmed eyes at her friends.

No one said a word at first, Nikki simply sitting and petting her friend's hair while Trinity held her hand, holding vigil in their way, while the remaining strangers stood quietly in their corners of the room, either looking on in silence or respectfully keeping their eyes averted, as though sensing that now was not the time to be ogling like a fool. Demon vibrated with purrs in her lap, his yellow-green eyes half closed, though his tail kept up an almost constant rhythm of anxious twitches. Puck stood to the side, having stayed in the same spot for a much longer time than he had ever stayed put for anything else. He wanted to go to Nikki, who was looking down at Catherine with a sorrowful glimmer in her dark eyes, but at the same time he felt he shouldn't move at all. When Nikki was ready for him to come to her, she would let him know. So he kept his station, watching carefully, feeling his stomach turning over and over in discomfort, as he waited.

Finally, after several more minutes of absolute silence, Catherine sniffled quietly and shifted in Nikki's arms, causing everyone to stir as through pulled from a stupor as she rose into a more upright sitting position, rubbing at her tired, reddened eyes. Nikki kept a cautious hand on her shoulder, as though ready to steady or catch her if need be, but Catherine turned and smiled gently at her friend, reassuring her, and, after gently nudging Demon so he slipped off of her lap, carefully pushed herself to her feet. Trinity and Nikki rose with her, both still hovering very close while Demon sat at her feet, gazing up at her.

She sniffed again, lifting her head to look around the room. Everyone was watching her, but as she met the eyes of everyone else surrounding her, a couple of them averted their gazes, as though ashamed that they'd been spotted. Two men over by the door were the first to look down; one a man with jet black hair and eerie silver eyes, his comrade with the most vibrantly purple eyes she had ever seen, and spiked black hair that had blue static running across each individual spike. The only other to look away was the gray cat with the yellow eyes, though he seemed to do it more out of disinterest than because he was feeling the need to indulge in her privacy. She hadn't noticed him before, but she suspected he was also a Cait Sith given the way he sniffed almost indignantly and swished his bottle brushed tail through the air as he looked out the window.

The remaining three people in the room, aside from Old Spindle, were two more boys, and a girl that looked to be around her age, or possibly a little younger. She noticed that one of the boys was identical to the man in the corner of the room, sporting the same silver eyes and black hair, but she sensed something different in the way he met her with a level gaze, his mercury colored eyes carefully empty and inclined his slightly to her. The girl beside him, around whose waist he had his arm, reminded her slightly of Trinity. They had similarly colored blonde hair and bright blue eyes, though Catherine thought this girl's eyes were a bit greener, and she was much fairer skinned and wispier than Trinity. This girl offered a small smile as she met Catherine's eyes, and her gaze was sympathetic.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Catherine glanced over to the last person in the room. A boy, with vibrantly red hair sticking up in almost every direction as though he'd spent the better part of his day in a wind storm, and vividly green eyes that almost seemed like a mirror reflection of her own. He also smiled when they locked eyes, and she could see concern glimmering in the depths of his eyes, though she noticed he didn't hold her gaze too long and instead flicked his attention over to Nikki, who stood beside her.

Glancing at her friend as well out of the corner of her eye, Catherine saw Nikki shake her dark head minutely side to side and frowning at the boy, who blinked once and nodded just as minutely. Not quite understanding what had just transpired, and not really sure if she should ask, Catherine rubbed at her eyes again, then glanced up to meet the many gazes of the people around her.

"Sorry," she mumbled then. "I didn't mean to meltdown like that…"

"It's okay, hon," Nikki murmured, squeezing Catherine's hand with her own and giving her friend a soft smile. "You've been stressed out, as we've understood it. Besides, we haven't seen you in almost a month, and you weren't the only one crying, so I think you're safe."

"Still," muttered Catherine, feeling ashamed. "I shouldn't have broken down like that…really…Demon…"

She looked down at the Cait Sith sitting silently at her feet.

"I'm sorry," she apologized miserably as he lifted his yellow-green eyes to her face. "Those were really stupid questions to ask and I—"

"Don't even," Demon said shortly, his tone severe as he cut across her. "Do not even think of telling me you were being silly and childish by asking those questions. You had every right to ask them of me, and had I been a better guardian I would have answered them from the beginning without prompting."

"But you've never given me reason to mistrust you before," she said.

"But I've never quite given you reason to fully trust me, either," Demon reminded her gently. "Catherine, never believe that by asking me for the truth that you are in the wrong. Only know that I will give it to you, unrestrained, and there is nothing you could ever ask me that I would refuse to answer, or be livid with you for asking. And never feel that you have to censor yourself because you are afraid of hurting my feelings. Believe me, I have been around for many centuries and been called many things. Nothing you could ever say to me has gone unsaid before."

Catherine gazed down at the Cait Sith, who smiled gently up at her and purred softly as he leaned forward to rub his head against her ankles. Catherine returned the smile feebly and sniffed feeling humbled.

"Thank you," she mumbled. Demon merely purred in response while Grimalkin looked like he might hack a fur ball in pure disgust.

"Yeck," the gray cat muttered, shuddering delicately and turning his head away.

"Yeah, we love you, too, Grim," sighed Puck dully, giving the Cait Sith a hard look. "Should have figured you'd be the one to go and muddle everything up right in the middle of the moment."

Grimalkin ignored him while Catherine glanced up uncertainly at the Cait Sith, then over at Puck, who was making quite unkind faces at Grimalkin's turned back.

"Kill joy," he muttered, turning to face Catherine with a grimace. "I swear, it's like he's never loved a day in his life."

"He hasn't," said Demon from the floor, sounding resigned. "And don't bother with him, Goodfellow. He's just a bitter old man."

"Goodfellow," murmured Catherine then, her voice thoughtful. "I've heard that name…and Sage…mentioned it this morning…"

She felt herself almost choke on the Winter Prince's name, but didn't falter as she peered curiously at Puck, who was looking back at her with a slightly hopeful expression.

"You haven't read a Midsummer Night's Dream by any chance?" he prompted, quirking a fiery red eyebrow.

"A couple times," Catherine admitted. "Seeing the play was a lot better…"

"Ah, a truly dedicated soul," gasped Puck jubilantly, and strode forward to bow in front of her. "Going to see the play in person is definitely a step up from reading a book to yourself. But that's beside the point. I'm sure you remember the mischievous faery that ran around causing havoc and mayhem all through the night? Turning some poor bastard into a donkey and making the Queen of Faeries fall in love with him?"

"You mean Puck?" Catherine asked, blinking up at him.

"You're looking at him, hon," Nikki said dryly from behind her, rolling her dark eyes at the ceiling. "The one and only prankster of Faery and the whole Nevernever: Robin Goodfellow; a.k.a. Puck."

"At your service," Puck said with another dramatic bow while Catherine merely gaped. "And may I say it is absolutely charming to finally meet the good friend that Nikki has been harping on about since the minute she got here? By the way, I don't suppose she's had the chance to tell you just how many times she's assaulted me in the past month, just for the record. You know, she bullied me into bringing her here."

Puck made a face akin to a kicked puppy's as he looked at Nikki, who snorted.

"What bull," she muttered while Catherine stared between the two of them. "If anyone's been assaulted, it's been _me_. Remember you happened to be the one who slung me over your shoulders at an ungodly hour this morning like it was the most brilliant thing in the world to do. Not to mention you said I looked like I'd gone for a mass orgy with a bunch of satyrs, which, by the way, is totally disgusting to even think about now that I'm coherent enough to get the whole innuendo and mess behind it."

Puck snickered and winked at Nikki while Catherine stared wide eyed at her friend, who was sticking her tongue out at Puck.

"Say what you like, beautiful," Puck teased her, leaning forward to knock his knuckles across Nikki's head. "You know it was fun."

"Feh," snorted Nikki, smacking Puck's hand away.

She turned then to Catherine, about to say something, but upon catching sight of her friend's scrutinizing gaze, she paused, eyebrows shooting up.

"What?" she asked, and Cat glanced pointedly at Puck. Nikki looked at the faery, too, and he was still standing there, looking puzzled. She turned back to Cat, even more confused. "What about him?"

Catherine cocked an eyebrow, her expression becoming amused despite the weariness still touching her eyes.

"_What_?!" demanded Nikki, now getting annoyed. "What is with that look?!"

Catherine snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Cat!" Nikki glared at her friend. "What are you giving me that look for?! And why did you just roll your eyes at me?!"

Catherine sighed, rolling her eyes again. "I'll ask you later."

"No, you'll ask me now!"

Catherine gave her friend a skeptical look. "You really want me to ask this aloud? I don't want to embarrass you."

Nikki finally paused, something clicking into place in her mind, and felt her cheeks darken slightly as she stared into Catherine's questioning green eyes.

"Oh," she mumbled.

"Yeah," said Cat. Puck stared at both of them, feeling distinctly stupid.

"Oh, then…ask me later," Nikki muttered, glancing away.

"I will," Cat promised with a small grin.

Giving her friend a half hearted shove and glare, Nikki turned to Puck.

"So, Puck, this is Cat, Cat, this is Puck," she said.

Puck blinked. "What, that's it?" he asked in shock when Nikki merely blinked back at him. "That's my grand introduction?"

"If it were any grander, it would swell your head, Goodfellow," Ash called from the table. "Consider it her way of keeping you alive longer, because if your head got any bigger I might feel the need to pop it like a balloon."

"Har har," said Puck tartly, turning to shoot a glare at the Iron Prince, who was smirking. "Ya know, I hope you choke on an apple core some day. I don't know why an apple core, but I hope it's an apple core."

"I hate apples," said Ash with a grimace.

"Fuck you," muttered Puck.

"Language," Ash sang at his rival, who gave him a withering look.

"I side with the prince on that one," Nikki said indignantly as she reached forward to smack Puck across the back of his turned head. "Language, sir!"

"Smack me again and see if I don't retaliate, woman," Puck said, turning on Nikki now with a fiendish look in his eyes. "Go on, just try it."

"No fighting!" snapped Spindle, her voice like the crack of a whip so everyone in the room went still and quiet. "I mean it, Robin Goodfellow. I don't care if you're Oberon's right hand the rest of it! One word and I'll toss you out on your pointed little ear!"

Puck turned to give the healer a forced smile. "Yes, ma'am, I'll keep that in mind," he said lightly as she gave him a warning look. "Hag," he muttered when she'd turned her back.

"I heard that!"

Puck winced, but didn't turn to Spindle again as he looked to Catherine and Nikki.

"So," he sighed. "Now what?"

"Uh, I was thinking of introducing her to everyone else, to be honest," Nikki said, exchanging a look with Trinity and Catherine. "You know, so she doesn't feel like she's totally surrounded by strangers and all that."

"You want to bore her to death with formalities?" Puck asked incredulously. "Besides, ice-boy and his minions don't need introductions. They're just there. Fur ball doesn't need one either, sour puss that he is."

"Then you can introduce her to Meghan and I'll introduce everyone else," said Trinity with a glare.

"Alright, then," sniffed Puck, and turned to point straight at Meghan, who looked startled as everyone's attention focused on her. "That," he announced grandly, "Is Meghan Chase. She's the Iron Queen. A half human like you, and is married to that sod."

He gestured lamely towards Ash, who glared.

"It's good to meet you," Catherine murmured softly to Meghan, who smiled back.

"The pleasure's all mine," she said earnestly. "And this 'sod', as Puck said, is my husband, Prince Ash."

Ash inclined his head respectfully to Catherine, who mimicked the action with a shy smile.

"A pleasure," the prince murmured. "Nicolette and Trinity have been talking non-stop about you since they got here."

"Really?" Catherine looked back at her friends in surprise, and they grinned.

"Come on, hon, you _are _pretty awesome," Trinity said with a shrug.

"Not to mention you were missing, so they were pretty freaked out," Glitch added from the corner, attracting Catherine's attention while Nikki stuck her tongue out at the Iron knight, who merely smirked back.

"That is Glitch," Puck said. "Glitchy, as he is much better known in our merry band. He works for the Queen and her hubby."

Taking note of a rather dark spot on Glitch's forehead, Catherine frowned. "What happened to your head?" she asked in concern.

"That would be Goodfellow's inadvertent handiwork," Ash sighed. "Woke the whole camp up this morning at the crack of dawn, causing chaos all around."

"Hey, it's not my fault the moron doesn't know enough not to sleep underneath a branch," Puck said defensively. "Imagine if he'd needed to arm himself for enemy attack at the first bugle call! He'd have knocked himself out cold and been totally useless! Luckily for him he didn't sit up as fast or hit his head as hard as he could have. Now he just has to touch up with some concealer and he'll be pretty as a peach."

"I really am going to kill you one of these days, Goodfellow," grumbled Glitch under his breath.

"Yeah, and I'm going to kiss ice-boy one of these days," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes, unconcerned. "And when we're done sucking face I'll happily let you render my head from my shoulders and we'll call it a day."

"That imagery is just appalling," muttered Trinity in total disgust, wrinkling her nose as she envisioned Puck and Ash…well, she was trying hard not to envision it…

"Yeah, that's gonna stay with me for the rest of the day," Nikki said, also grimacing. "Just what I wanted to imagine for the rest of the day, too. Ash and Puck getting a little too close."

"If anyone else brings that up in the next ten seconds," Ash said menacingly while Meghan patted his arm consolingly, though she also looked a little disturbed.

"Relax, ice-boy, you're totally not my type," Puck said. "And your wife would murder you if you even thought about getting cozy with me, so that's totally out."

"Puck, you are so rude," said Nikki, shaking her head.

"State the obvious some more, please," Puck invited her with a smirk. "It's totally awesome to hear you tell me things I've known about myself for centuries."

"You're an ass," she snapped at him, chocolate brown eyes glaring half heartedly at him.

"Oh, be still my heart," gasped Puck, clutching dramatically at his chest. "Speak more, sweet siren. Your words have wrapped around my soul and seek to endlessly woo me."

"Oh, shut up," Nikki told him, smacking his arm so he snickered and grinned.

"Anyway," Trinity said, stepping forward to take Catherine's arm, pulling her to the center of the room. "I'll introduce the other two people here. That's Tertius."

She gestured towards Ash's twin, who nodded his head respectfully in similar fashion to how Ash had done.

"He's one of Ash's and Meghan's knights," Trinity went on to explain.

"Nice to meet you," Catherine murmured softly and Tertius offered a small smile.

"And that," Trinity said, turning to point across the room to where Grimalkin lay curled up, "Is Grimalkin. He's a Cait Sith like Demon, but he's kind of a jerk, so I don't think it will matter if the two of you really get to know each other since he's always disappearing the minute we run into trouble or he gets bored of being around us. The only reason he stuck around this time was because he heard we were coming to see Demon and apparently wanted to be rude to his cousin's face."

"Not at all surprising, either," Demon commented, still sitting where Catherine had previously been standing. "Grimalkin never misses out on a chance to criticize my lifestyle. I sometimes think he's made it his goal in life, along with twelve-hour naps."

Grimalkin didn't say anything. Catherine couldn't tell if it was because he was asleep or simply ignoring them, but either way it didn't particularly bother her. She guessed if Grimalkin was as rude as Trinity was telling him, she probably wouldn't want to hang around him all that much, though she was kind of surprised. She had thought more Cait Sith would be like Demon, but she supposed she should have known a bit better than that. Demon was a rare exception to the rule it seemed and more Cait Sith were probably prone to acting similarly to Grimalkin than anything else.

"Well, um," she murmured, looking uncertainly at Grimalkin's back, "It's nice to meet you, too, Grimalkin."

Grimalkin snorted and didn't turn around. So, he was ignoring them. Alright, then.

"Well, that's everyone," Trinity said, turning to Catherine with a small smile. "You already know Spindle and Demon so obviously that's totally unnecessary as far as introductions go."

"Yeah," murmured Catherine, nodding.

She felt hazy again, almost like she was in a trance. She'd felt like this all the way back through the woods from the border with Winter to here, and it seemed like—in spite of the momentary joy of being reunited with her friends and finding out Demon wasn't a lying sneak—she was losing steam again. She felt the inevitable crash coming, and though she knew she wouldn't physically pass out, she was sure her emotions and mentality were going to shut off soon.

"You okay, Cat?" Nikki was frowning at her as she walked up, looking concerned. "You look out of it…"

"I kind of am," Cat admitted with a small smile. "I…I haven't really been sleeping that great in the past few days."

"We know," Trinity told her gently. "Demon and Spindle told us you haven't slept in a week, except for last night."

Catherine flushed slightly with embarrassment. So they knew… It figured they'd hear it from the healer and Demon. Spindle had been furious with her for not taking potions, and Demon was concerned for her health, but she'd still been refusing to accept their help. She felt awful about it now…

Frowning, she turned to glance over her shoulder at Spindle. The old goblin healer was hunched over her cauldron, mumbling in her usual fashion as she scattered several leaves into the bubbling mixture. She didn't seem to be paying the group any mind, too absorbed in her work.

Catherine hesitated for a moment, then walked slowly up to the healer, twisting her hands nervously together.

"Spindle?" she said tentatively.

"Hm?" the goblin grunted in response without turning.

"…I'm sorry," Catherine apologized quietly. "For not accepting your help earlier…It was childish of me."

The healer's hand stilled over the cauldron where she'd just tossed a shriveled newt into the brew, and Catherine thought she saw the goblin's pointed ear twitch slightly as though perking up to hear her better.

"I was hoping," she pressed on softly, "That, whenever you might have the time, you might be able to make a nightshade draft, or possibly show me how to make one…I don't think I can sleep without it and I can't keep on like this…"

Spindle slowly lowered her hand and turned to face Catherine, her expression completely blank. Her beady black eyes looked up into Catherine's tired and sallow face, assessing the girl with the scrutinizing gaze of a healer.

"I understand if this is asking a lot now after all you've done for Demon and I," Catherine said, lowering her gaze, feeling even more embarrassed by her earlier behavior towards the healer who had tried so hard to help her, "And I _am _sorry…"

Spindle didn't speak for a moment, still gazing up in silence at the half human, then a smile broke across her wizened face and her black eyes warmed. Reaching out, she took Catherine's hand in her wizened and aged one, patting it gently.

"You're a dear thing," the healer sighed as Catherine looked up in surprise. "And stubborn to boot. But I can also see how weary you are, child, and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't help you when you asked me to. Now, if you hadn't gone so far as to apologize for your earlier mistakes, I might be a little stiff on the matter, but I can see you've learned your lesson."

She was still smiling, showing cracked and yellowed teeth, as she released Catherine's hand and scurried to her cupboard, throwing the doors open and rustling about inside.

"I should have all the ingredients for a nightshade draft here," she said while Catherine looked on. "It will take me a few minutes to get it ready, but then it will be all set for you to take when you feel ready to lie yourself down."

Catherine felt choked with gratitude as she watched the healer scurrying about, making the necessary preparations to make the nightshade draft, and sighed in quiet relief.

"Thank you so much, Spindle," she thanked the healer. "Really…"

"Just be sure you drink it this time," the healer said sternly though there was warmth in her eyes as she looked at Catherine, who smiled and nodded in understanding.

"You should take it as soon as it's ready," Demon said, limping forward to nudge the girl's ankles. "One night doesn't make up for a week, though I'm sure it was better than nothing at all."

Catherine looked down at her guardian and nodded again.

"I am glad the Prince took care of you," sighed the Cait Sith, easing himself into a sitting position and stretching out his leg again with a small grunt of pain. "I don't know what would have happened otherwise…"

"Yeah," said Catherine, but her voice was hollow, and she felt a looming emptiness begin to fill her as she remembered the Prince…

Demon glanced up, taking note of how Catherine seemed suddenly rigid, and frowned when he caught a look of pain on the girl's face. Her lower lip was trembling, though she kept biting down on it to keep it from doing so, and her hands continually clenched in unclenched until she shoved them into the pockets of her jeans, out of sight. Concerned by this unusual behavior, Demon assessed Catherine for another long moment.

"It really is something," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes, "That a Winter Prince—especially Mab's eldest—would take on the duty of watching over you yet again. Especially after Tir Na Nog. I was amazed when the prince's familiar came to tell me you were with them in Winter, as he had made you swear never to return."

Catherine's eyes tightened and darkened as he watched, and her mouth became a thin line of tension across her face.

"Yeah, I was surprised, too," she murmured quietly. "Since he'd said he never wanted to see me in Winter again…"

"He did?" Ash was the one who spoke, sounding stunned. "When? Bane didn't say anything about that."

"Not surprising, really," sighed Demon, turning reluctantly away from Catherine to look at the Prince with a small frown. "I don't suppose he mentioned he collected several favors from me, as well."

"No, he mentioned your favors being due," Puck said, looking bemused, "But nothing about Cat owing the Prince anything."

"Oh?" Demon was surprised. He would have thought the familiar would have been sure to let the group know his precious Prince was doing nothing out of the goodness of his heart, lest it make him seem weak, but he supposed the wolf had also been trying to avoid making it sound as though Sage had been asking anything indecent.

"It wasn't really much that he asked," said Catherine, still in that hollow voice, and everyone turned to look at her. "He just made me swear an oath that he'd never see me in Winter again after I left from the time I spent in Tir Na Nog while he looked after Demon and I. I didn't see any problem with the oath, so I made it and we left. When he found me again, I was standing on Summer's side of the border, so he couldn't really have a problem with it…"

She trailed off and shrugged, gazing unseeingly into the fire roaring beneath Spindle's cauldron.

"I don't know why voided it when he found me," she went on softly. "He just did, and took me to his Lodge and gave me nightshade to sleep…then this morning he…" She cut off abruptly, feeling her throat closing as she remembered just what Sage had done. Insignificant as it may seem to anyone else, she felt like the Prince had thoroughly violated her, and just remembering it now—only a few hours past—and her lips were starting to burn in hateful recollection and her heart began to race as she tried hard to catch her breath and speak normally. "This morning he gave me some daffodil potion and…then I left."

She shrugged again, not meeting anyone's eyes, least of all Nikki's or Trinity's for fear that her friends would see the pain glimmering in her jade eyes, or the way in which she was biting so hard on her lip to keep from melting down that she was sure she was about to break through the skin.

"That was it?" Demon inquired softly. "Did he ask you any favors?"

Catherine's heart skipped a beat and she began to tremble in spite of herself, though she tried to shrug off the creeping chill that was worming its way into her heart, and the cool, saccharine taste that was starting to spread across her tongue. She swallowed again, trying to dispel the taste, but it did nothing to help her and she cleared her throat as she nearly choked on rising tears. She was not about to cry again, she told herself firmly, clenching her hands in the pocket of her jeans and biting hard on her tongue to keep herself grounded. But she also couldn't lie to Demon or Nikki and Trinity.

"He did," she mumbled. "Just a stupid thing. Nothing important."

"Define 'nothing important'," Puck said, his tone serious as he eyed Catherine's rigid shoulders. "Not serious to you could mean totally serious to a fey. What did he ask for?"

Catherine felt nauseous. She knew she couldn't tell a straight faced lie to save her life, and even if she couldn't she wouldn't lie to Nikki or Trinity or Demon. It would be completely betraying their trust. The problem really was that she might be able to brush off what Sage had asked as a favor as nothing serious to Demon and the others around her, but Nikki and Trinity would know from the minute the words left her mouth just what it had cost her. So what could she say? She racked her brain frantically, trying not to panic, and as she felt all eyes on her, questioning and confused, she finally came up with something that was not a lie, but also not the whole truth.

"He just asked me to answer a question for him," she said as casually as she could manage, resisting the urge to shut her eyes against the images racing through her mind. Sage's face coming closer to hers…the burning in his icy emerald eyes…his pitch black hair cascading around them like so much silk…his cool lips centimeters from hers…

"That's it?" Puck asked, sounding surprised. "That's not all that bad then, unless he asked something personal about the courts."

"She doesn't know enough about the courts to give information," Demon told the faery. "But I would like to hear what he did ask you, Catherine. Was it anything serious or personal?"

"Not really," she said, shrugging, even as her heart thundered against her rib cage, nearly knocking the wind from her as her head threatened to start spinning. She felt so sick…and so tired…she just wanted to sleep… "He just wanted to know my true opinion on something, and I told him."

"But what, specifically, did he ask you?" Demon persisted, narrowing his yellow-green eyes.

He didn't like this. Catherine hadn't looked at him once the whole time she was talking, and she was growing paler by the minute, not to mention he could clearly see the anguish in her eyes as she gnawed on her lower lip. He knew she wasn't lying to him when she answered him, but he suspected she wasn't telling the whole truth, either.

"He asked," Catherine said, trying not to stumble over herself, also rapidly pulling up the best non-lie she could, "What exactly I thought about him."

"In what terms?" Demon prompted.

Catherine shrugged. "He didn't specify," she said. "So I just told him the truth."

"And what is the truth?" Demon asked very softly, his tail twitching rapidly back and forth across the wooden floor of Spindle's hut, stirring up dust particles into the air.

Catherine was quiet for a long moment, thinking fast and thinking hard. She bowed her head.

"I don't know" she murmured, trying not to let her voice break.

"Is that what you told him?" Nikki asked.

Catherine nodded. It wasn't a lie. She hadn't specifically told Sage anything to speak of, and not to mention it wasn't a lie that—at that moment—she was no more the wise to how she felt about Sage than anyone else… She really didn't know what she thought of the Prince now…though she wasn't stupid enough trying to separate thoughts from emotions. Her thoughts were a chaotic whirl as far as the Winter Prince went, and she could no sooner sort through them than she could cut off her own hand and grown another back, but her heart was dead set. Even if she never managed to think of him in anything other than hatred or loathing, she knew her heart would always love him… She couldn't change that, even if she wanted to. But no one else in the entire room needed to know that but her…at least for now.

She felt guilty for not cluing in Nikki and Trinity, but right now she couldn't. She just couldn't open herself up like that so soon after suffering such a deep wound just hours before now. It was too soon… She would manage to tell them eventually, though whether 'eventually' meant tomorrow or several weeks from now, perhaps even months from now, she couldn't accurately guess. Right now, she didn't even know if she'd be okay in a few weeks, or a few months… It felt like she'd been chopped open and the one responsible hadn't even had the consideration to crudely stitch her back together, so she was left to do that for now, and it was going to hurt with every stitch she made, but she'd get there. And when she did, she would be able to face Nikki and Trinity about it, and maybe even Demon. But not now…

Sighing, she lifted her head and turned to face Nikki and Trinity, both of whom were watching her with uncertain and concerned expressions. She gave them a small smile, knowing they wouldn't buy into it, but also knowing they wouldn't ask her anything until she was ready to answer. Nikki offered her own smile in return and Trinity tried to smile but didn't quite manage.

"Well," said Puck, completely oblivious to the trouble in paradise taking place right before his eyes, "That's not such a bad favor then. Kind of stupid, really. He could have made you slave for the rest of your life if he wanted."

"Sage isn't one for eternal enslavement," Ash stated from his chair. "He doesn't particularly like taking favors in any case, so I'm surprised he did it in the first place, but I guess he just wanted to at least make it seem like he isn't weak. If Mab were ever to hear of him doing such things for a half human and not demanding something in return, she'd take him to task for it without a doubt."

"And what would he say if she ever does find out and asks what he asked in return?" Meghan asked uncertainly. "I mean, he can't lie to her…"

"No," agreed Ash, "But it's Sage. He's hidden things from her for years. Like his Lodge, for example. She's spent centuries looking for it and hasn't found it. If she ever irritates him or brushes up on the wrong side of him he just disappears there for ages and doesn't come back. She learned quickly not to try and push him too hard or she was liable to be short a son at the worst moment. I remember one year she demanded he go to Elysium with her in Arcadia because it was 'his royal duty', as she called it. He said he'd rather not go, and she lost her temper. She told him she was his Queen and he would do as she said without asking. They argued about something else, or at least she threw a tantrum about something else and he just went off to his Lodge with Bane. As you can figure, she went to Elysium with one less son than she'd first intended."

"I remember that year," Puck recalled with dawning comprehension. "She was _pissed _that year! Even took a stand at Titania, and, man, I don't think I've seen either of their Royal Highnesses so ready to go at each others' throats. I thought there was going to be a war until your bastard brother Rowan stepped in and calmed Mab down. Everyone there was ready to go running either for the hills or for their weapons. It was the shortest Elysium I remember in all the time we've had them."

"Because it _was_ the shortest," said Grimalkin unexpectedly, sounding bored. "No one wanted to be in that court anymore than Mab did at the moment, because they all thought she'd throw decorum to the wind and ice the whole place over. We were lucky she didn't."

"You were there, huh?" said Puck, eyeing the cat with surprise. "Funny thing. I never took you for a party-goer."

"Anyway," sighed Ash, rolling his eyes, "Once we got back to Tir Na Nog after that, he was waiting in the castle and she confronted him about it, telling him never to disgrace her in such a way again. Two hours later, she went looking for him, and one of the servants told her that Sage had gone to his Lodge again and didn't say when he'd be back."

"And what happened to the servant?" asked Nikki uneasily, figuring it couldn't have been anything good.

"Frozen," Ash said dully, looking slightly saddened by the memory of it. "Of course, it wasn't his fault Sage had gone off again, but there's no reasoning with Mab when she's good and angry, and she was absolutely livid. She sent out search parties to go looking for the Lodge, but they all turned up without any luck, even though a couple groups searched for almost a full week straight looking for it. Once they were finally told to quite looking, Sage turned up the next day to talk with Mab like nothing had happened, and she was finally smart enough to know getting uppity with him wasn't going to work like it did with Rowan and I."

"Too bad he never shared his hidey hole," commented Puck idly. "Could have saved you a lot of grief, princeling, trying to get out of Mab's way."

"I spent most of my time in the woods anyway," Ash said, shrugging. "She doesn't make a habit of going there, so it was about as good for me as Sage's Lodge is for him, only it's harder to hide if she sent searchers."

"Like Sage," Trinity said, remembering their earlier conversation from the night before.

"Like Sage," agreed Ash with a small sigh. "So, back to the point, if it ever comes up what he did, all he has to do is go hide out and Mab probably won't even bother looking for him. I doubt she'll consider it, though. If Sage managed to keep Catherine and Demon hidden from her and Rowan both for nearly two weeks, I have a hard time believing that they'll find out now almost a month later."

"Rowan would be royally pissed if he found out, I bet," Puck gambled with a dark smile, "Even if her highness decided it wasn't worth the argument."

"He would," sighed Catherine softly, causing Puck and the others to look over at her. "He was furious enough when Demon and I got out the first time, and that was sheer luck."

"How _did _you get out anyway?" Meghan asked, frowning.

"Demon," said Catherine simply, glancing down at the Cait Sith, who was slowly stretching his leg and grimacing. "He had to use a lot of his glamour, but he managed to take me out of the dungeon and to the first floor of the castle. From there, it was just a matter of sneaking around corners until we got to the front door. I don't know why but there was basically no one in the castle that day, so we just snuck out and bolted."

"That's unusual," murmured Ash, confused. "There's always a butler at the door, I thought."

"Not that day, there wasn't," said Demon. "He'd been called away by Mab it seemed. Arranging a party of some kind, from what I heard from a couple of guards we hid from along the way."

"A party?" Ash's brow furrowed, his mind working. "That's weird, too…Mab doesn't throw parties…"

"No need to tell us," Puck snorted. "Unless it's Elysium, your mummy dearest would sooner sit on her throne and pretend like the rest of the world doesn't exist outside of her chilly little kingdom."

"Your brother, Prince Sage," Demon spoke up then, looking at Ash, "Mentioned something in passing about Prince Rowan's knighthood ceremony. Renewing his oaths, or something of that sort."

"Ah." Ash's silver eyes glowed with understanding. "Of course. She has her knights renew their vows every few decades or so, just to ensure their loyalty to her. If it was Rowan's vows that were being reaffirmed, that would explain the festivities."

He grimaced. "He _is _her favorite son, after all."

"Of course he is," snorted Puck. "He's just as sadistic and vicious as she is. Like mother, like son, right? Just glad you didn't turn out the same, princeling."

"I'm sure you're not the only one," said Demon with a short purr. "That Rowan was fortunate I didn't have time to waste clawing at his eyes…"

"Demon," gasped Catherine, stunned at the cat's admission, but he didn't look at all ashamed of himself as he lifted a paw to wash his ears.

"You know I would have," he stated easily. "I have no care for that bastard child…"

"I know you don't, but still," murmured Catherine, still alarmed, though she was also secretly relieved that the conversation had taken this much safer turn, even as her heart continued to tighten uncomfortably just at the mention of Sage's name.

"Would you have preferred I play nice with the Ice Prince?" asked Demon coldly, lashing his tail as he glanced up at Catherine.

"You know that's not what I meant," Catherine started to say, but suddenly Spindle cleared her throat loudly and came tottering over from her table, a glass in her hand, full to the brim with a familiar midnight blue liquid swirling with silver and black stars.

"Here," the goblin said shortly, pushing the glass into Catherine's hands. "Drink it whenever you're ready."

She shuffled away without giving Catherine a chance to say a word, and went back to stirring her cauldron.

"That's nightshade?" Nikki asked, staring in fascination at the swirling liquid.

"Yeah," said Puck, looking at her in confusion. "You've had it before."

"Yeah, but I never got to see what it looked like," Nikki said, still awed as she came closer to peer into the swirling mixture, brown eyes wide. "That's really pretty…"

"And deadly to humans," snorted Puck, "So be glad you're half dryad, too, or you probably wouldn't have woken up this morning."

"So you mean to say you gave us nightshade last night without stopping to consider it could have killed us?" Trinity asked, sounding affronted.

"I've tested nightshade before," Meghan said quickly, sensing Trinity was about to become very upset, "Since I'm half human, too. I measured it out in a small dose for you and Nikki so it wouldn't be too much when we gave it to you last night in the food."

Trinity glanced over at the girl who smiled reassuringly, and seemed to relax a bit, though she was still frowning.

"I still wish you guys would have at least mentioned that first," she muttered.

"We'll be sure to inform you of everything we inject or otherwise douse your food in," Puck said jokingly, rolling his eyes. "Hell, we'll even taste it for you if you want."

"Very funny, Goodfellow, but I think she's serious," Glitch said from the door while Catherine stared sightlessly into the depths of the nightshade potion.

Puck's earlier words about nightshade being poisonous to humans had sparked another memory of the night before. A memory of a Winter Prince who had so carefully administered half of a regular dose to her to ensure she didn't die from the poison that was naturally lethal to humans…and who had gently forced her to accept every drop of the mixture to be certain she received the full benefits of that half dose before letting her drift off to sleep in a luxurious bed of furs and coverlets while he kept watch in the front room and sent his familiar out to inform her guardian of her whereabouts…

Something dropped into the nightshade mixture disturbing the surface with small ripples, and, blinking rapidly in alarm, Catherine realizing she had tears in her eyes, starting to drift down her face. Hurriedly, she wiped them away before anyone could notice, glancing around anxiously to be sure no one had seen, and found Spindle watching her very attentively from her cauldron, though when their eyes met the goblin healer turned her back and went on with her brewing like she hadn't noticed a thing.

"For the record," she said, startling Catherine as she spoke, "That is a full dose. I would start out only drinking half of it."

"Half a dose won't work for me," Catherine said immediately. "The…The Prince tried half a dose last night, but I kept having nightmares and woke up before he'd meant me to. He said to tell you half a dose is no good."

"Then just drink all of it," sniffed Spindle without turning. "Just make sure you're lying down before you do, though I'm guessing you already know that much to be firmly sitting someplace before you decide to go throwing it back."

"Yeah," murmured Catherine, nodding minutely.

She traced the rim of the glass slowly, lost in thought, though she wished she could as easily forget those thoughts as she could remember them. While she was seemingly distracted, Nikki came up to her side and gently touched her arm to get her attention. Lifting her head, she met her friend's gentle brown eyes with her jade ones, and blinked when Nikki smiled slightly.

"You should take it, hon," the dark haired girl murmured gently. "You really need to sleep. You've been up for a week and I don't think I want to see you keep up that streak. One night doesn't completely count as making up for all the hours you've lost, okay?"

Catherine smiled at her friend's would-be firm tone, which was marred by the concern in Nikki's eyes, and nodded.

"Sure," she said quietly. "Just let me find a place to lay down first, because this will knock you flat in two seconds."

"I know," said Nikki with a little laugh. "Puck drugged our food with it last night to make sure we were well rested, since we were all ready to go storming into Tir Na Nog to come get you since we thought you were still a prisoner."

Catherine stared at her. "You were going to march into the Unseelie Court to take me back?" she demanded, horrified. "Nikki!"

"What?" Nikki looked defensive. "We would have! Like we were going to leave you there to freeze!"

"I was fine," Catherine said, though she didn't seem quite convinced of that. "Sure, it was a little cold, but—"

"But nothing, Cat, you were trapped there for all we knew till Bane showed up and I wasn't about to let you face possible execution via Ash's psychopathic brother," Nikki said coldly, glaring at her friend.

"Alright," sighed Catherine, putting her free hand up in a defeat, realizing she wasn't going to get a word in edgewise. "Alright, Nik. But I'm fine now, right? Not trapped. Not facing death. I'm fine."

"Minus the total lack of sleep for days on end," Puck piped up from behind Nikki, flashing a wry smirk at Catherine. "Having known Nikki for the time I have, I'd say you've got a few seconds before she forces that potion down your throat whether you're lying down or not, and if you keel over it's going to fall to _me _to carry you to the bed. So, for everyone's sake, please drink it."

Catherine looked at the faery for a minute as he looked back at her with wide, pleading eyes, then looked at Nikki, who was giving her a hard stare. She'd known Nikki for years, and though she knew Nikki really probably did want to force every drop of the nightshade potion down her throat, she wasn't vicious enough to do it while Catherine was still standing with the danger of dropping to the wooden floor in two seconds and possibly splitting her head open. She might not like waiting for Cat to get to bed, and she'd force her there if it took long enough, but she wasn't mean enough to risk giving her friend a concussion on top of everything else. Still, Cat figured if she didn't want to be manhandled into bed, she should get on with it.

"Alright," she sighed again, and looked over at Spindle, who was idly stirring her cauldron. "Spindle, is the back room empty?"

"Yes," said the goblin shortly. "All yours."

Catherine nodded and turned to walk towards the one other door leading off from Spindle's main room, which led to a bedroom. At first, Catherine had thought this room was where Spindle herself slept, until she'd found the healer curled up in a makeshift bed that folded out from the wooden closet by the fire. This one bedroom, with two beds and a few collapsible cots, was reserved for the moderately ill to injured, and since Spindle didn't generally get a lot of business out here in the Middle of Seelie and Unseelie territories, it was more than often enough empty.

Catherine sat down on one of the beds in the corner, heaving another deep sigh as the down mattress dipped beneath her weight, and looked up as Nikki and Trinity came slowly into the room behind her. Demon came limping in as well and came over to the bed, pausing for a brief second to judge the distance before pushing off with his good leg to scramble up onto the bed with a few grunts and hisses of pain.

"Demon, I swear, if you keep doing that, your leg is never going to heal," Catherine chastised her guide as he limped up to her side and sat back, looking supremely unconcerned.

"I'm fine," he said, twitching his whiskers.

"No, you're not," Catherine said, glaring at him. Now that she'd gotten past all of her worries with Demon, she felt a small glow of relief that things seemed back to normal between them, like he was purposely pretending that she had not had a meltdown in front of him or been asking questions concerning his trustworthiness and motives.

"Drink the potion, Catherine," sighed Demon, rolling his eyes as he carefully curled himself up beside her, effectively ending the conversation.

Catherine gave him another cold look, then sighed. Looking up at Nikki and Trinity, who stood in front of her, looking eager and anxious at once, she smiled. They didn't smile back.

"Cat," Nikki said softly, and she seemed uneasy, twisting her hands together as though she were wringing out a dishcloth. "Are you really okay? I mean…other than sleep deprivation…"

Catherine gazed up at her friend, realizing with a sinking in the pit of her stomach just what Nikki was getting on about. She should have realized she couldn't hide anything from her friends, but she had hoped that they would at least have given her time to approach them on her own about whatever happened to be bothering. Apparently a week without sleep, imprisonment and attack by redcaps had them worrying over her enough that they didn't feel like waiting anymore. But she wasn't ready…

"I've just got a lot on my mind," she said quietly after thinking to herself for a moment, her emerald eyes soft as she gazed up at her two friends. "It'll settle out eventually but…right now I just kind of need to think it over on my own…I promise I'll tell you guys eventually, but it's nothing life threatening or anything and I just need time to think about it all. You know?"

Nikki seemed to hesitate before she nodded, and Trinity didn't nod at all, merely frowning in disappointment at her friend. Neither of them liked that Catherine was reluctant to tell them what was happening with her, but they both understood in their own way that Catherine needed her own time to come out about whatever it was. They believed her when she said it wasn't endangering anyone's life not to say anything about it, but they didn't quite think it was totally harmless, either. But whatever they might think on what Catherine was thinking hen pecking her about it wasn't going to change her mind. If anything, she'd shut up even further and maybe never tell them about it, and that wasn't something they wanted to risk.

When Catherine was ready, she'd tell them.

"Alright," murmured Nikki after a long moment. "You promise you'll tell us eventually?"

Catherine nodded. Nikki hesitated, then extended her hand, pinky out.

Catherine smiled, and reached out to link pinkies with her friend, then they both looked at Trinity, who grinned and also extended her hand to lock pinkies with her two friends.

"Promise," Catherine murmured softly to her friends.

Demon, not quite asleep yet, watched the odd human proceeding with attentive yellow-green eyes. He had seen small human children perform the act of crossing pinkies with each other and swearing vows, but he had never witnessed grown humans doing similarly, so he had considered it a child's game, but the seriousness that was stamped on all three girls' faces told him it was not just fun and games. It was a solid vow they'd just sworn, and it interested him to consider that these half humans, with their human families and human traditions and human ideals, could follow such an ancient Faery tradition as swearing oaths to each other with every intention of fulfilling that oath. Very interesting…

"Alright," said Nikki then, breaking the link between the three girls as she lowered her hand, grinning at Catherine. "Drink that pretty potion and go to sleep. We'll be here when you wake up, though I figure I'll have take Puck for a walk. He's like a dog, he gets all riled up and moody if he doesn't get let out once every hour."

"I heard that!" Puck snapped from the other room, sounding offended. "And I have much better control than a dog!"

"Well, I'd hope so," said Ash's amused voice, "Because I wouldn't be cleaning up any, uh…_accidents_ you happened to leave behind, no matter what Spindle threatened me with. Though I think she'd beat you pretty soundly if you soiled her good carpet."

"Shove it up the darkest part of your lily white—"

"Puck!" Meghan's voice snapped.

Puck grumbled sullenly to himself, his footsteps thumping across the floor before he appeared in the doorway, looking distinctly grouchy.

"No rest for the weary, I swear," he griped, walking over and throwing himself down on the other free bed, face in the pillows.

"Aw, poor baby," cooed Nikki, smirking at him. "Did the mean Iron Prince say mean things to you?"

"You are on my list, woman," Puck said from the pillow, turning his head to fix a narrowed emerald eye on Nikki, though his lips quirked at the corners in a wicked smirk. "Mark my words, you will get yours before the day is out."

"I am so scared," snorted Nikki, rolling her eyes, arms folded over her chest. "Cat, take your potion and get to sleep. We'll be here whenever you get up today or—hopefully—tomorrow, and then we can figure out plans from there. I figure you and Demon will want to stay here for a while so you can catch up on sleep and he can get his leg feeling better."

"I thought we'd already discussed that I feel perfectly fine," the Cait Sith said idly.

"And I said that you're not," Catherine told him sternly. "You're still limping. Cait Siths don't limp."

"Oh, you're an expert now?" Demon inquired with a sarcastic glance up at her. "Forgive me, I didn't know I had a Cait Sith critique in the room."

"You're sooo funny, Demon," she said with a roll of her jade eyes.

"Mm-hmm. Take your potion." The black cat laid his head on his paws, closing his eyes.

"Yes, mother," sniffed Catherine, though she was kicking off her shoes and throwing back the covers of the bed, carefully holding the nightshade potion in her other hand as she settled down among the pillows.

The bed wasn't quite as comfortable as the one she had spent the previous night in, and the pillows seemed stiff and board-like in comparison to the poufs she had laid on, but she didn't let it affect her too much, because thinking about that bed would make think of something else that she really didn't want to. Heaving a tired sigh, feeling a little wearier than she had a moment ago as she finally drew the blankets over herself, she let her eyes drift shut for a moment before opening them to look at Nikki, Trinity and Puck, who were clustered at the doorway.

"We'll be here," Nikki said gently when they locked gazes, her dark eyes warm as she smiled.

"I know you will be," Catherine told her.

"And if we're not actually in the hut when you wake up," Trinity added, "Just give us an hour and we'll be back. We'll probably be out walking the dog…"

Puck gave the blonde girl a steely glare and turned his nose up.

"Such rudeness!" he sniffed dramatically.

Catherine grinned at the faery. "It just means they care," she told him, and he glanced at her with a small grin of his own.

"True," he agreed with a small chuckle. "Well, get to rest, Sleeping Beauty. Nikki will give me grief if we keep you up any longer."

Catherine smiled and nodded as the three disappeared back into the main room, Nikki gently shutting the door behind her so she was left in the dimness of the bedroom with Demon curled up at her feet, purring softly, while the one candle in the room flickered softly, casting a warm orange halo around the dwelling. She gazed at the orange flame for a long moment, her memory triggering again to show her a roaring sapphire fire in a stone hearth, a great gray wolf curled up on the black fur rug just before it, and a dark haired Prince reclining on a pouf just beside his familiar, his handsome face peaceful with pretended sleep as she walked up to him and his familiar.

"Catherine."

Demon's quiet voice jerked her from her trance, and when she looked at the Cait Sith he was blurry. Startled, she blinked furiously and felt her stomach lurch to realize she was crying again.

"Sorry," she mumbled, hurriedly wiping away the offending tears.

Demon watched her silently for a moment from the foot of the bed, then heaved himself up to limp right up to her side and curled up there against her waist, purring immensely as he nuzzled her arm.

"I won't pester you," he told her softly, "But I hope the time will come when you can also confide in me… Just answer me one question, and then you can go to sleep."

Catherine looked down at him, her eyes blurring momentarily before she could stop the tears from coming, and nodded.

"I don't know what happened in the time you were gone," Demon said quietly his yellow-green eyes glowing strangely in the light cast from the one flickering candle, "But I feel something happened, something that hurt you, and you've changed… I just want to know: Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

Catherine stared down at the Cait Sith, who looked straight back at her, his expression calm, but his anxious tail twitch gave away his true feelings. As her heart gave a particularly violent twist, nearly causing her to go straight into possibly her third or fourth meltdown of the day, she took a very deep breath and closed her eyes, fighting back tears.

"I don't think so," she whispered at last. "I'm sorry…I think…this time it's something I've got to try and fix on my own…"

"You don't always have to do things alone," Demon reminded her gently.

"I know," she told him shakily. "And I'm not totally alone…you being here is enough help, Demon. Really. Having you and Nikki and Trinity here…that's as much help as I could hope for right now."

Demon watched her for another long moment, then dipped his head in understanding.

"Very well," he murmured. "Then I will stay here…Now, drink the potion and get to sleep. Your friends are worried as it is."

Catherine nodded, and was about to lift the glass to her lips when she hesitated.

"What is it?" Demon asked.

"I…won't be able to hold this by myself after the first sip," she said uneasily, pulling the glass away to eye the contents. "I couldn't last night…Sage had to help me…"

Demon blinked once, then sat up and looked towards the door.

Almost as though they'd been there waiting for a cue, the door swung open and Nikki stepped through, looking a little sheepish.

"Spindle snapped at me for leaving you in here alone to drink the potion," she told Catherine as she walked up. "She said you wouldn't be able to do it by yourself after a few seconds."

"She's right," Catherine said with a small laugh. "I was just realizing I should have asked you or Trinity to help me."

"Great minds think alike, apparently," snickered Nikki, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Just hold the glass to make sure she doesn't drop it and tilt it back when she loses her grip," Spindle called from the other room. "She'll be asleep before she's finished it, but she'll still be able to drink it all so long as you're pouring it down her throat."

"That won't choke her, will it?" Trinity's anxious voice asked.

"Of course it won't," sniffed Spindle indignantly. "She'll still be semi-conscious, just not enough to hold the glass or pour the potion back."

"Right then" sighed Nikki, turning back to Cat with a slightly uncertain look. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Catherine sighed with a weak smile. "Just make sure I don't fall on Demon, either."

"Ha," snorted the Cait Sith. "Like I'd be stupid enough to let myself get squashed."

"You're not as fast as you're used to being you know," Catherine told him idly.

"Just drink the potion."

Catherine smirked at the cat's slightly annoyed tone, but brought the glass to her lips, Nikki's hand at the ready on the bottom of the cup as Catherine tilted it backwards, pouring the sweet liquid onto her tongue. The effect was immediate, her vision blurring around the edges and her body growing heavy. She felt Nikki's hand grasping the cup, tilting it back, inch by inch as Catherine struggled to stay conscious enough not to choke on the continuous flow. But Spindle was right, she didn't remember finishing the potion before she was passed out asleep and Nikki was gently tipping the last of the contents into her half open mouth before resting the glass from her glass.

"Man," the girl muttered, standing up and looking amazed. "This stuff really knocks you out, doesn't it?"

"I thought we'd already discussed that," Puck called lightly from the next room. "Why do you think you only got a tiny little drop of it on your meat last night, beautiful? We didn't need you going comatose in the middle of the wyldwood."

Nikki rolled her eyes as she gently tucked in the blankets around Catherine, a very motherly gesture that had Demon watching her with intense curiosity, before she straightened, holding the now empty glass in her hand, and turned to leave. She paused at the door to look back at her sleeping friend, then glanced at Demon, who was watching her.

"Look out for her?" she asked quietly, and the Cait Sith nodded.

"Of course," he murmured. Nikki nodded back at him, then stepped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her again, heaving a sigh as it swung shut and she turned to face the room full of people.


	10. Chapter 10

Puck was standing closest, eyeing her uncertainly as she walked forward to put the glass on Spindle's table.

"You okay, beautiful?" he asked softly when she turned back to him, her expression distinctly tired.

"Worried," she admitted as he sidled over to her to drop his arm in casual familiarity across her shoulders. "She's hiding something… I get her not wanting to tell us what it is yet if it really upset her, but I still worry…"

"You think she knows why she can't sleep and everything?" Meghan asked.

"Sure of it," said Trinity firmly with a nod, standing by the one window, though giving Grimalkin a wide berth as he continued to sun himself. "And I know Cat will tell us eventually, but I'm on the same page with Nik. It's not like Cat not to be able to come out and tell us something happened."

"You think it has anything to do with Sage?" Meghan wondered aloud. Nikki and Trinity thought over it for a moment, then shook their heads.

"She'd at least have told us that much," Nikki decided, frowning. "Even if she didn't tell us exactly what happened, I think she would have at least said if Sage had done something. Besides, it was a week ago."

"It could have happened when she was with him last night or this morning," Glitch pointed out.

"I thought we already had this discussion," Puck sighed wearily. "The Prince isn't malicious, or conniving, or a jackass, even if he is a Winter Prince. He didn't take advantage of her a week ago and he more than likely didn't take advantage of her last night or this morning."

He paused, glancing at Nikki. "At least, I don't think he did," he said, shrugging when their eyes met, mahogany brown to leaf green. "And that's a huge compliment coming out of me."

"I know it is," she told him, smiling, though the humor didn't quite reach her eyes. "And I agree with you. Cat wouldn't be able to keep it together if he'd done anything to her. It's her greatest fear."

"What is?" Ash asked, frowning.

"Being taken advantage of by a guy," said Trinity quietly. "It's her fate worse than death, really. Trust Nik and I on this, if Sage had done anything to her, she wouldn't be able to pretend like nothing had happened. She just doesn't hold together that well once she's been undone."

"She wouldn't be smiling or talking," Nikki went on. "Nothing like that…She'd just be…empty…"

The room grew quiet. Everyone was deep in thought, and though Nikki and Trinity had vehemently denied that Catherine might have been a victim of Sage's, they couldn't quite convince themselves. Truth be told, though Catherine had told them time and time again how she believed she would act if something of that sort every happened to her, could she really know herself that well if it _did _happen? What if that was what had actually happened? Nikki was frowning, feeling her heart thundering in alarm at the idea of Catherine alone, trapped with Ash's older brother, forced to comply to his wishes, and her stomach lurched with nausea, when all of a sudden from his sunny perch, Grimalkin yawned.

"If you're all worrying about that," he said dully, "And I can tell you are, the girl is still a virgin. So quit your fretting. Really…must I be the informant on everything?"

Nikki lifted her head to stare at the cat, as did everyone else, especially Puck, whose eyes were enormous and his mouth hung open slightly.

"And how the hell do you know that?" the Summer faery demanded, sounding appalled.

"Her scent, Goodfellow," sighed Grimalkin. "It's the easiest way to sense a change in a human or anything else in this place. The girl is totally innocent. Even if the Prince had engaged in unseemly behavior with her that didn't require the stripping of her virginity, she would be covered in the scent of arousal and she is not."

Puck now looked distinctly unsettled. "Fur ball, do us a favor, and don't ever say things like that again, okay?" he said, his tone utterly repulsed. "That's just eighteen different levels of nasty."

Grimalkin snorted.

"Well, at least we've confirmed it now," sighed Trinity, looking immensely relieved, and for once grateful to Grimalkin. "She wasn't assaulted."

Nikki breathed a silent thanks to God for it, too. The thought of Cat being victimized like that…she didn't even know what she'd do. So, it wasn't sexual assault or anything like it…

"We'll figure it out," Puck said assuredly, and she looked up to see him smiling down at her. "She'll tell you when she's ready, right? She said it herself."

Nikki blinked up at him. "You were eavesdropping?" she demanded.

"Is that _all _you picked out of my words?" Puck asked in exasperation. "Seriously! And it wasn't eavesdropping; it was more like 'selective hearing'."

"You were totally eavesdropping," Glitch said bluntly from the door. "You were standing outside the door and everything. You even had your hand cupped to your ear like a moron."

"Oh, shut it, Glitchy," sniped Puck, glaring at the knight. "Before I get _really _bored and turn you into a flying squirrel."

"I'd love to see you try, Goodfellow," sneered Glitch.

"Ahem!" Spindle's wheezy cough had them freezing and glancing over their shoulders to see the healer giving them all dark looks.

"Sorry," Nikki apologized to the goblin, who sniffed inelegantly and turned her back. "Come on," she then muttered, tugging at Puck's sleeve, "Let's go outside. You've been stuck in here too long and I really need to step outside, too."

"I'll go with you," Trinity volunteered, immediately crossing the room to join Nikki and Puck as they made their way to the door.

"We will, too," Meghan said, dragging a reluctant Ash to his feet.

"And, by default, so will we," said Glitch, falling into step behind his Queen and Prince as they walked out through the door, Tertius at his side. Grimalkin remained behind in Spindle's hut, which didn't surprise them in the least, and as they stepped out into the glorious sunshine Glitch pulled the door shut behind them with a soft thud.

"Ah, to be alive!" sighed Puck, stretching appreciatively in the warm sunlight. "I thought I was going to get cabin fever if we stayed there any longer!"

"Well, then next time you can just hang out outside like a good doggy," Ash said as he breezed by, smirking at his rival, who fixed him with a very dirty look.

"You know what, Frosty, one day you're going to turn around and the 'good doggy' is going to be at your throat," Puck threatened the prince, who scoffed.

"You two are so immature," sighed Trinity, rolling her eyes. "Seriously…you guys have been alive for centuries and this is what you do in your spare time?"

"Nah, this is what I do during my work time," Puck said, smirking. "In my free time, I rescue damsels, poke fun at Cait Siths, and risk life and limb in near-attempts at storming the Unseelie Palace."

"And when he's not occupied with that, he spends the time making general nuisance of himself, much to the chagrin of those around him," Ash sighed, looking resigned. "Occasionally getting into a couple of unnecessary duels along the way."

"Unnecessary, you say, princeling?" Puck's eyes glowed with wicked intent as he smirked at the prince. "Really, now? You wanna go? Here, now? Just you and me and our fists?"

"No!" exclaimed Nikki in unison with Meghan, the two of them stepping firmly between the Prince and the Summer faery as they glared daggers at each other.

"No fighting!" said Nikki firmly, giving Puck a pointed glare.

"Aw," sighed Glitch disappointedly. "I wanted to see the Prince wipe the floor with Goodfellow…"

"You really have no sense of decorum, do you?" muttered Tertius to his comrade, who grinned sheepishly.

"And you have no sense of fun," Trinity teased Tertius with a wry smirk as she came to stand beside him. "You can't tell me you wouldn't like Puck to get a good beating every now and then."

Tertius glanced down at her as she grinned, her blue eyes dancing with mischief, and his lips twitched in a reluctant smile.

"Ah-ha! See!" Trinity giggled as she poked him in the arm. "You wanted to see Puck get whooped just as badly as Glitch does!"

"Then they'd both be sadly disappointed when I made their high and mighty prince sing like a choir boy," Puck said with a snort of derision. "In all the centuries Ash and I have dueled, he has never beat me!"

"Obviously," said Nikki dryly, arching an eyebrow. "Otherwise you'd be kind of dead, don't you think, Goodfellow?"

Puck turned to her, ready to make a witty reply, then fully processed just what she'd said and felt his jaw go slack as he gaped at her, totally lost for how to retort. Nikki waited with an expectant look on her face, dark eyebrows arched, the tiniest of smirks on her face, until Puck finally sighed in defeat and glared at her, causing her to giggle.

"You are too damned smart for your own good, woman," he told her, rapping her smartly on the head so she squeaked and glared. "And you are still on my list."

"What list?" she demanded in annoyance, massaging her sore head and giving Puck a dirty look. "And why do you keep _hitting _me?!"

"All domestic abuse should be reported and dealt with," Ash said wisely with a very devious smirk.

"You stay out of this," Meghan told him darkly, giving him a half hearted shove.

The prince gave his queen a look that spoke volumes that not everyone wanted to read, then locked his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head while she grumbled under her breath, very reminiscent of Spindle.

"My list," Puck was informing Nikki seriously, "Is my list of every single person in the world I plan to punish some day. Ice-boy still ranks number one, and you're a close second. And I do not _hit _you; that would just be rude and uncalled for. I merely knock on your head to show my affection, much like you poke my face when it seems to catch your fancy, though _why _you want to poke my face is just totally weird and beyond me."

"You totally hit me," Nikki told him, glaring. "And I poke your face because it's there to poke."

"So is the rest of my body, but you seem to have this obsession with my face," Puck told her. "I mean, I know I've got some great genetics going for me and all that, but really…"

Nikki stuck her tongue out at him as he smirked back, clearly amused with himself.

"So, what should we do now that we're out here?" Trinity asked before anything else could interrupt or go wrong, though she was also looking distinctly amused as she looked between Puck and Nikki. "Food? Wandering? What are we doing? Because if we just stand here until Cat wakes up I might just have to strangle Puck for something to do."

"We could get food," Meghan said, nodding. "I actually brought some snacks with me, but Ash didn't think that would be enough for last night."

She gave her prince a look to which he smirked and leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek.

"Skittles and Pretzels do not qualify for adequate nighttime dinner," he told her.

"You have Skittles?" gasped Nikki, eyes going huge.

"Yes," said Meghan, laughing at the hopeful excitement in the girl's brown eyes. "You want them?"

"Yes!" Nikki was practically bouncing as Meghan pulled her rucksack from her shoulders to unzip one of the smaller pouches and pull out a sandwich bag full of Skittles and passing it over.

"What is _that_?" Puck asked, staring in confusion at the colorful beads as Nikki plucked out a handful of red, orange and green ones and dumped them into her mouth with great enthusiasm.

"You mean to tell me that you spent 16 years in the human world and never found out what Skittles were?" Meghan asked in slight disbelief, staring at her friend, who shrugged. "It's candy, Puck."

"Oh!" Puck's eyes lit up eagerly and he tried to sneak a hand into the bag Nikki was holding, but she spotted him and abruptly yanked it out of his reach.

"Yo! Get your own, Goodfellow," she snapped at him, clutching it tightly to her chest, clearly defensive, and sticking out her tongue when he glared. Puck laughed though to see her tongue was now stained green, dark red and orange, making him think of a chameleon.

"You look ridiculous," he told her, snickering. "Now, don't be greedy and share. You don't need all that sugar to yourself, beautiful. You'll go sky rocketing before we know it."

"Will not," said Nikki indignantly, and dropped another handful of Skittles into her mouth.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "You will so," he said with a snort, "And that aside I am getting cranky without sugar so unless you want to start a fight about this, cough up."

"You get cranky without sugar?" asked Trinity in amusement. "I just thought you got cranky about everything."

"No, that is the fur ball who's still snoozing inside," Puck corrected her, "I get cranky without sugar and if Nikki doesn't share the sugar in about two seconds, I'm going to make her."

"Go on then," Nikki challenged him, glaring defiantly at him, though her eyes sparkled with laughter. "You'll have these Skittles over my cold, dead body!"

"Challenge accepted," Puck declared and cackling evilly lunged at Nikki, who squealed and ducked behind Ash as Puck gave chase.

"See what you've started?" Ash asked Meghan as they watched the dryad and Summer faery go in maddening circles around their group and through the nearby trees, Puck whooping a battle cry was Nikki ducked beneath branches to avoid him, giggling madly. "This is what happens when you give candy to rambunctious children like them. You should have just given them the pretzels."

"Don't start," sighed Meghan, rolling her eyes. "Besides, they need to get the energy out now before we go back and they tear up the hut. This is good energy burning."

"Yeah, right up until someone loses an eye," joked Trinity, watching as Nikki ducked under another branch, pulling it back with her hand and letting it go so it caught Puck right in the gut as he leapt again, sending the fey cursing and crumpling to the ground while Nikki dashed off, laughing hysterically.

"Ah, they're fine," sighed Glitch, grinning hugely as he watched Puck stagger to his feet, swearing loudly, "Just let her whale on him a little bit and then we'll give them a time out."

"You really are immature, aren't you?" sighed Trinity, glaring at the Iron fey, who shrugged.

"Just ignore him," Tertius advised her quietly. "He's just jealous they have candy and that he'd get pummeled if he tried to take it."

"Say what?" Glitch turned on his partner with a startled look. "What did you just say, sir?"

Tertius stunned Trinity by smirking slightly at his comrade.

"You're jealous," he said lightly, "That you can't play with the big kids yet."

"Oh-ho, is that it?" said Glitch, narrowing his violet eyes dangerously at his partner. "You want to go, Tertius? See who the big kid really is?"

"I'd hate to make you cry," replied Tertius.

"Why you!" Glitch launched himself at his friend, who stepped idly to the side so the other fey went flying past to land face first in the grass, swearing colorfully while Trinity looked on, feeling laughter bubbling up. "You ass!"

Glitch flew back at Tertius, who braced himself this time and went down with Glitch tussling like a couple of overgrown kids in the undergrowth, throwing lame punches at each other, Glitch cursing occasionally as he was slammed to the ground. Trinity watched, now laughing aloud, and Meghan also giggled as she watched her knights roll through the grass, Glitch promising vengeance as Tertius finally detached himself and leapt up, jumping up into the branches of a nearby tree with groaned slightly at the contact with the iron, but held as the knight pulled himself higher into the branches and Glitch clumsily followed after him, slipping once and landed on his ass in the dirt as he fell right out of the tree. A brown blur shot by Trinity, giggling madly, and a second later a raven swooped after it, cawing loudly, emerald eyes gleaming.

"Madness," muttered Ash, staring around him as though he were witnessing the end of all reason.

"It's to be expected," said Meghan with a small giggle, watching as Glitch hauled himself once more into the tree to pursue Tertius, not at the moment realizing that his comrade had taken the opportunity to sneak back down the other side of the tree and was creeping back to where Meghan, Ash and Trinity stood.

"You're so mean," Trinity informed Tertius with a huge grin as he came up beside her, dirtied and with his hair tousled, but looking otherwise very proud of himself. "What are you going to do when he gets stuck up there?"

"That is his own problem," Tertius said dismissively, though he smiled a small smile as he looked up into the branches where faint glimmers of metal gave away Glitch's position as the Iron fey continued to haul himself higher and higher into the tree, determinedly searching for Tertius.

They stood a few moments, watching the clueless knight make his ascent, and only when a foul stream of words flew away on the wind from the very point of the tree, signaling that Glitch had realized his mistake, did Trinity burst out laughing at the same time Tertius did, actually falling into each other and laughing so hard they sank to the ground while Ash and Meghan looked on in amusement and resignation as Glitch continued to shout expletives from the crest of the tree, a tiny silver figure suspended nearly thirty feet above the ground, brandishing his fist.

"What the hell happened to Glitchy?" Puck asked, appearing suddenly beside everyone, covered in leaves and dirt, panting to catch his breath, but looking very pleased as he clutched the bag of Skittles in his arms. "I've never heard him make such pretty music before."

"He was chasing Tertius up the tree, but Tertius climbed down the other side and Glitch didn't see," Meghan said with a small grin as she spotted Nikki stomping up from a nearby trail, just as muddled and muddy as Puck and glaring with lethal promise at the faery's back as she stalked nearer. "You might want to run if you plan on keeping those Skittles, Puck. There's a very angry looking dryad coming up on your six."

"Ah, feh," said Puck, unconcerned as he flopped to the ground, seizing a handful of Skittles and dumping them in his mouth. "Like she'll really beat me. Besides, unlike some people, I know how to share."

"Do you know?" Nikki demanded as she stomped up, glaring down at him, though she was barely managing to keep back a smile. "If that's true, then give me my Skittles back! I mean it, Goodfellow, you've got thirty seconds before I tackle you."

"Now, now," said Puck serenely, reaching up to grab her hand and pulling so she fell onto the ground beside him, looking shocked. "No need for threats, beautiful. Gimme your hand."

Nikki eyed him for a moment, not quite trusting, then tentatively offered her hand to him. He seized it in his, turning it palm up, and dumped a generous handful of Skittles into it before closing her fingers around the candy and pushing it back towards her, grinning when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"See?" he said teasingly, leaning over to nudge her gently in the arm. "I can be nice."

"You're such an idjit," she told him, but she was smiling as she popped a yellow Skittle into her mouth.

Puck grinned and plucked two green ones from the mix in his hand, flicking them into the air to catch them in his open mouth. Nikki stared.

"Neat trick, right?" he asked, winking as he chewed.

"Sure, if you're five," snorted Trinity, who was lying on the ground, sprawled out from her earlier laughter, with Tertius propped up on his elbow beside her, smirking up at the tree where Glitch was struggling to clamber back down without falling to his death, still shouting curses and promises of death once he found Tertius.

"I think it's cool," Nikki informed Puck, then took a red Skittle out of her bunch and flicked it up. It landed in her open mouth and she beamed, exceptionally proud of herself, and Puck snickered when she did it again, and again.

"You're a natural," he told her, knocking her on the head. "Keep up the good work and maybe one day you'll be as good as me."

"Is that a challenge?" Nikki asked, narrowing her eyes at him as she munched on the Skittles in her mouth.

"Maaaayyyyybeeee," said Puck with deliberate slowness, smirking at her. They looked at each other for a split second. "Whoever drops one first loses."

"You're on!"

Trinity sighed, rolling her eyes as Nikki and Puck started their furious, yet childish, competition, glad, at least, that for the moment things seemed back to normal. Cat might not be physically beside them, but they knew where she was, and they knew that—physically—she was safe and sound, and right where she needed to be. They were all back together, and everything else in the world could wait on them, because then, watching Glitch careen the last twelve feet out of the gigantic tree to land flat on his back, swearing loudly, Trinity had never felt more right with the world. Grinning as Glitch shakily heaved himself to his feet, she glanced to her right where Tertius lay, also watching his comrade with a look of pure amusement on his face.

He seemed to sense he was being watched though, for he turned to glance at her as well, his silver eyes registering surprise as they locked with her sapphire ones. She grinned shyly, and he returned his usual small smile, his eyes lighting up.

"I think your partner is going to kill you when he gets over here," she confided in him.

"You're probably right," he admitted with a soft chuckle, though he looked totally unconcerned. "Should I run?"

Trinity glanced at Glitch, who was leaning against the trunk of the tree, wheezing and glaring in their direction, deadly promise in his eyes, and snickered.

"At least climb another tree," she advised as the fey pushed himself off from his resting post and began to stalk across the distance separating them, growling threats as he came.

"Indeed," chuckled Tertius, pushing himself to his feet and looking around him for a good place to start climbing. "Think you can waylay him if he tries coming up after me?"

"I've got your back," she said with a wink and a thumbs-up. Tertius smiled, then jogged a few feet away to haul himself up into the thick branches of an old oak.

Seeing his partner making another bid into the trees, Glitch hissed a curse and broke into a run, trying to make it in time to grab Tertius by his ankles before the knight could disappear into the foliage overhead, but just as he was closing the gap, stretching out his arm, Trinity discretely stuck her foot in his path and he went careening forward to land face first in the dirt, cursing. Trinity giggled hysterically to herself as he pushed himself up, spitting out grass, and Puck and Nikki were roaring with laughter. Ash was trying not to give in to his smile, and Meghan had a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter as Glitch sat back, glaring balefully up to where Tertius sat in the cradle of a branch, one leg dangling in the air. Looking down to see his violet eyed partner giving him a murderous look, the Iron knight grinned and waved idly. Glitch got to his feet.

"You are so dead when you get down from there," he snapped. Tertius laughed.

"I suppose I'll be up here for a while, then," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not all bad, either. The view is marvelous from here."

He made a show of looking around him at the trees that he could now see straight over at the landscape, grinning enormously. Glitch growled under his breath, spitting out more dirt and leaves.

"You've been hanging around Puck too long, Tertius," giggled Meghan. "I've never seen you act like this!"

"A little fun now and then isn't a bad thing," Tertius said, putting his hands behind his head. "I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize it."

"Man, you are a-okay," laughed Puck, flashing a thumbs-up at the knight. "And to think I thought I'd never like you!"

Tertius laughed again as Glitch stomped over and began his cautious ascent into the branches, clearly determined to get the better of his silver eyed partner.

"Glitchy, come on now, be a good sport," Puck called to the violet eyed knight as he hauled himself yet higher into the tree, "Just admit you lost and come back down before you fall on your ass again!"

"Shut up, Goodfellow, or you're next!" snapped Glitch, spread out on his stomach on a thick branch, arms wrapped tightly around it as he glared up to where Tertius was lazily swinging his leg back and forth, smirking. "And you, pretty boy, you are sooooo dead when I get up there."

"I feel like there's an appropriate response to that statement," sighed Tertius, looking thoughtfully at the sky, "But I can't remember it clearly…a human saying…what was it?"

"Bring it?" suggested Nikki and Tertius nodded.

"That was it," he said with a grin directed at Glitch. "So, bring it on, Glitch, let's see how well this goes for you this time."

Glitch cursed under his breath as he hauled himself precariously to the next branch, though he was still a good five branches away from Tertius, who didn't look at all perturbed by the potentially dangerous adversary making his approach. The others stayed on the ground, looking on, giggling, grinning or rolling their eyes in exasperation. Trinity lay out on her back, hands behind her head, and smirked as Glitch nearly lost his hold on a branch and scrambled to find purchase on the wood before he could tumble to the ground. Puck laughed at the sight of the 'great Iron knight' clinging like a scared kitten to the branch, and Nikki snickered through her mouthful of skittles, both of them having forgotten their earlier contest. Ash tightened his arms slightly around Meghan as he watched his two knights bantering at each other, and Meghan merely smiled and sighed.

"They could do this for hours" she muttered.

"And they probably will," Ash murmured back.

"Ah, well," she sighed. "So long as that tree doesn't mind them hanging out it's fine, I suppose."

And the tree really didn't mind at all, simply standing and allowing the two iron fools to clamber through his branches as Glitch pursued Tertius and Tertius nimbly ascended and descended branches to evade him. Nikki was lying back in the grass as well, watching, and Puck eventually flopped backwards, arms behind his head, letting the sun warm his face. Trinity dozed in the sunlight, and Ash and Meghan eventually settled down as well. Nikki also fell asleep, turning onto her side with her arm cushioning her head, and Puck snuggled closer to her until his forehead rested against her shoulder. Glitch eventually gave up his chase and clambered down from the tree to rest on the ground with his back to the great tree, breathing deeply, eyes closed. Tertius also climbed down and walked to join the group; patting Glitch on the shoulder as passed and narrowly dodging a half hearted kick from his companion as he went. He settled down beside Trinity, who was asleep by that point, and laid out on his back, arms behind his head, and let his eyes drift shut. By the next twenty minutes, the whole group as fast asleep under the summer sun.

Spindle came outside once to look for them, and, finding them asleep, merely came over to check on them before smiling to herself and returning inside to tend to her cauldron and have a small chat with Grimalkin. In the bedroom, Catherine slept soundly with Demon curled up against her stomach, tail over his nose, also fast asleep. The wyldwood was quiet, only occasionally giving sound to the whisper of a dryad as she flitted from her tree to her neighbor's, exchanging news of the strangers lying asleep in their grove, and the troupe slept on. The sun took her time in the sky, feeling no real need to move, for she was also taking a rest from running around, and she shooed the moon away when he attempted to peek over the horizon, telling him to patiently wait his turn. He went away sullenly, leaving the sun to glow and share her warmth with the dozing fey below her.


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days were long, though hardly uneventful. Suggesting that Catherine might not wake up for a good two or three days, Spindle told the group they might be better served wandering the wyldwood for a while, though taking care to warn them not to venture too far unless they felt like running into trouble would be a good idea. No one really wanted to leave the hut, though they made their daily outings just to make sure that Glitch and Puck didn't kill each other from sheer boredom, and when they came back Nikki and Trinity did their usual chore of checking on Catherine to make sure she was alright. Of course, she slept like a rock and Spindle told Nikki in no uncertain terms that it would be a complete waste of her time trying to wake the girl up.

"Nightshade is to ensure they don't wake up for however long it is in their system," the healer explained as she ladled soup into bowls to pass around the hut one night. She had since taken on the duty of temporary cook as well as healer what with so many people hanging around her home, though she didn't seem to mind at all, telling Meghan not to bother when the girl had offered to share cooking duties. "A full dose of nightshade can last as long as five days if the taker is weary enough, and since she went for a whole eight days without sleep, I think it's safe to say she'll probably use the next three days to fill that five day quota."

"So we've got half a week left, basically," said Trinity, gratefully taking the soup offered to her and taking a generous sip, sighing as the broth melted on her tongue.

"Thereabouts, yes," said Spindle, nodding as she dragged herself onto a short stool and pulled her own smaller bowl into her lap, spooning chunks of rabbit stew into her mouth. "But by then, she should be awake, and the Cait Sith should be fit to leave."

Demon had been making regular appearances through the week, though he spent most of his time curled up at Catherine's side, either sleeping or merely watching to ensure the girl was safe as she slept. Spindle occasionally called him out of the room to check and change his bandages and had announced the day before that he was nearly healed, and he just needed to make sure he kept up with the stretches she had advised him to do to be certain the muscles weren't stiff. Nikki had been amazed by the cat's recovery speed, and even gone so far as to mention her wonderings to Puck, but Grimalkin—who for some odd reason had decided to hang around—had made a rather snide comment on how Cait Siths naturally had excellent healing capabilities and it was foolish of her to feel impressed. She'd refrained from speaking in front of the Cait Sith ever since, and had to talk Puck down from pulling a trick on the cat lest he go off somewhere or retaliate on his own.

"So, three days," sighed Meghan, looking relieved. She had been good about not complaining about staying so long in Summer, especially when she had her own Kingdom to worry about, but it was obvious she was anxious to return to Iron. "I guess that means you'll probably be taking them to Arcadia, right, Puck?"

She looked over the Summer faery, who nodded his head instead of speaking, as his mouth was stuffed with stew. He swallowed hugely and sighed.

"Yeah, that's the plan," he said, nodding. "Lord Pointy Ears is probably already annoyed that we're taking so long getting back, especially since Tri is his prized general's only kid and all that, and he'll probably be even _more _annoyed that we almost went into Winter territory on a would-be rescue attempt, but better to get back and fill him in so he doesn't have a cow than run around and hope that he doesn't end up sending a couple knights after us."

"And he'll want to know about Catherine, I imagine," Trinity murmured, "Since she's half and half like Nikki and I, and she's our friend. And she's probably of the Summer faction, too, so—"

"She's not," Grimalkin interrupted from where he sat by the fire, warming himself.

"She's not?" Trinity looked shocked, and Grimalkin gave her a dull look.

"Honestly, you humans," he sighed. "You really feel this ludicrous need to repeat everything that's told to you. It's like speaking to one of those horridly annoying parrots your kind seem so fond of…"

"What do you mean she's not of the Summer faction?" Puck asked, ignoring the cat's monologue.

"Just what it sounds like, Goodfellow, she is not of the Summer faction," said Grimalkin, twitching his tail in annoyance. "I can smell it in her blood. The power of Winter glamour is in her, though not very much. Enough to be noticeable, though."

"She's a Winter Cait Sith?" asked Nikki, looking crestfallen. She had been so sure Cat would be part of Summer like her and Trinity, and that meant they could take up residence in the Seelie Court. But if Cat was a Winter Cait Sith… "Does that mean she can't be in Arcadia?"

"Nah, she's still allowed," Puck said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Cait Siths don't abide by the same kind of 'your-side, my-side' deal that Winter and Summer have going. They go where they please, and the courts don't really care a thing about it. It's not like they're a big problem to either Mab or Lord Pointy Ears."

"So she can still live in Arcadia if I can convince Oberon to let her stay," Trinity said hopefully.

"That's about the size of it, yeah," said Puck, nodding and grinning. "I don't think you'll have to try hard to convince him. You're like his new favorite person since he favored your dad and all. It's Titania you'll have to wrangle with, and I don't think she's happy as it is having two half humans in the court. No offense."

"None taken," said Trinity, but she was frowning. She'd almost forgotten about Oberon's bitch queen of a wife… And Puck was right about her, too. She already didn't like having to put up with Nikki and Trinity. Particularly Nikki. She could handle, at least, having Trinity in court, since she was the daughter of Oberon's favorite late general. But Nikki was just a common dryad's daughter, and Titania had been hard to convince to let Nikki hang out in court.

Trinity wasn't sure what the queen's feelings on Cait Sith were, but she figured that it didn't matter if Cat was part Cait Sith. She was still half human. And a half human was a half human no matter which way you spun it for Titania. She'd never forgiven Oberon for siring a half human daughter, after all, and as a result she _still _didn't like Meghan or any other half breeds that happened to come across her path. Even if Trinity managed to get Oberon to agree to keep Cat in the court, she figured Titania wouldn't be quite so lenient. Given her way, she'd probably turn Cat into a potted plant or something and leave her out to wither in the sun.

"So how do we get Titania to let Cat stay?" she asked Puck helplessly. "She won't listen to me. It's enough that she barely let Oberon keep me in the court, and Nikki. I don't think she'll be all smiles and sparkles to let another half human into the court, especially if she can tell that Cat's from the Winter faction, Cait Sith or no."

"She's right," Ash said when Puck frowned. "Titania hates Winter and she hates half humans. Put them both together and you'll be lucky if she lets Catherine get a word in edgewise about why she's there or why she should stay. Even if Oberon agrees, it's not going to be easy."

"I figured that much," sighed Puck, running a hand through his unkempt red hair, spiking it up so he looked like a preening cockatoo. "And, for once, I've really got no ideas. I mean, if we could get Demon to come along with us and explain everything, we might have a better chance."

"You speak as though I'm not following you, Goodfellow," sighed a voice then, and Demon appeared as suddenly as a flash of light, seated on the table just to the left of Spindle, his long black tail curled neatly over his paws. "You forget that Catherine is my ward. I am sworn to protect her until she has found her father and I intend to keep doing so, wherever that leads me to going, even into Oberon's court, much as I detest the idea. If I need to sit and explain to Titania why she should allow Catherine to remain in Arcadia, I will do so. She would be unjustified in attacking either myself or Catherine, so she will have to hear me out."

"I know she'll listen to you," Puck said immediately, frowning, "I'm just worried what she'll do to _me_ for bring you two with. I'm not exactly her most favorite person in the court."

"You're not her favorite person, period, Goodfellow," Ash snorted, rolling his eyes. "After you, the only person she detests more is Mab."

"Way to make a guy feel warm and mushy inside, princeling," Puck said tersely, narrowing his emerald eyes at the Prince, who smirked. "And even if the Bitch Queen doesn't turn me into a hedgehog for playing around with Cait Siths and half humans, she'll have my head on a spit if she finds out you and Meghan were with us."

"You would think she'd have learned to get over it by now," muttered Meghan, looking annoyed. "It's not like we're conspiring to throw her off the throne or something…"

"We're not?" asked Puck in mock disappointment. "Man! I was looking forward to a rebellion!"

"Shut up, Puck," snorted Nikki, grinning at him. "You'll get your day."

"You mean when I'm king of the world?" joked Puck.

"Yeah, sure," she said, rolling her eyes. "King of the Gluttons, more like."

Puck had been slurping down the remains of his stew as she said this, and lifted his head to pout at her. Broth lined his lips in a greasy brown mess, and he had a small blotch of sauce on his lip.

"I am not a glutton," he said, sniffing as though offended.

"You are, too, you just inhaled your soup," she told him, looking pointedly at his empty bowl.

"Hmph!" Puck turned his nose up while Nikki smirked and continued to eat her own soup with much better grace. She was starving, but unlike a spear of rabbit meat, soup was something you just did not scarf down at the speed of light.

"So," she said when she'd finished, putting her bowl to the side and turning to look at Demon, "You come back with us to court and explain to Titania."

"Yes," said Demon, eyeing her uncertainly.

"Let's say she doesn't let Cat in," Nikki said, much as she didn't like to consider the idea that the Faery Queen would so easily turn her friend out of Arcadia, "What happens then? Where do you two go?"

"Wherever we can, I suppose," said Demon, shrugging his feline shoulders. "After all, even if Titania and Oberon both agreed to give us safe haven in Arcadia, we wouldn't stay long. Catherine is searching for her birth father, and that requires traveling."

"Ah, right," said Nikki with a small frown. She'd forgotten about that. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"Not a clue," admitted Demon, shaking his head. "I knew very few of my brethren, aside from Grimalkin, and since I seriously doubt that Grimalkin is her father that only leaves so many sources I can check before we just start roaming."

"What if Grim _is _her dad, though?" Puck asked thoughtfully, eyeing the gray feline as he washed a paw, though he froze at Puck's words. "That'd be kind of a twist, wouldn't it?"

"A marvelous theory, Goodfellow," said Grimalkin sourly, "But with one fatal flaw. The girl is a Winter Cait Sith, meaning her father was a Winter Cait Sith, and my parents were both Summer Cait Sith."

"Shame," sighed Puck in mock sadness. "And here I was hoping to make quick work of the search, though it'd also kind of suck if you did end up being some poor girl's dad. Just imagine the kind of interrogation the potential boyfriend would have to go through."

He shuddered at the idea while Nikki snickered. Grimalkin gave them both very dark looks and resolutely turned his back on them, resuming the fierce washing of his paw.

"How many other Cait Sith do you know, Demon?" Trinity asked.

"Around ten," the cat guessed after pondering for a moment. "Most of them take up permanent residency in either territory, so it should be easy enough to find them."

"Both territories?" Nikki frowned. "Why not cross out any Cait Sith living in Summer?"

"Because some of them are Winter faction cats," Demon explained. "As you heard, we are not tied to either one land or the other based on birth. We can go where we please. Some Winter cats preferred to settle in Summer territory, just as some Summer cats—for whatever reason—choose to settle in Winter territory."

"Ah," said Nikki in understanding. "That makes more sense…"

"Then it would make sense to start looking Summer," Trinity said, blinking blue eyes at Demon, "Since we'll be in Arcadia before you guys go anywhere. Do you know any Cait Sith near the court itself?"

"A couple," admitted Demon with a nod. "One actually lives within the Court itself, or he used to. I am not sure if he has moved in the past century."

"You mean Sorrel?" said Grimalkin from the floor, flicking his ear in the direction of his cousin.

"Yes, him," said Demon, turning to look at his gray furred kin. "Do you know if he still in the area?"

"He is," Grimalkin confirmed. "He was the last time I was there a month ago, looking the fool as usual…"

Demon sighed and rolled his yellow eyes at the ceiling, a rare gesture from the Cait Sith that had Nikki grinning.

"You think any Cait Sith who does not abide by your strict set of morals is a fool, cousin," Demon told Grimalkin, thumping his tail in annoyance. "You do not even seem to contemplate the idea that perhaps the real fool is the one who does not follow a different code that seems more renowned among our brethren."

Grimalkin sniffed uncaringly and went on washing his paw, drawing it over his ear.

"So this Sorrel," said Nikki, "What does he look like?"

"It is actually hard to say what to look for," Demon told her. "He does not keep one form as Grimalkin and I do. This is how he varies from most other Cait Sith. Since he spends so much time in Oberon's court, he generally holds a human form."

"You can do that?" Trinity looked impressed.

"Of course we can do that," said Grimalkin in his bored voice. "All fey can do that."

"Furball just chose not to, apparently," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "And considers it a grave offense if his other kitten kin decide they like to dance around as humans."

"In any case," Demon went on, "Finding him is a matter of finding what form he has taken. He favors a human form while at court, but otherwise remains in his true form."

"Do you know he looks like in either form?" asked Trinity a second before considering how stupid of a question it might be. Luckily, Demon didn't speak down to her and merely twitched his whiskers.

"As a cat, he is a large orange tabby," he explained, "With white paws and a short tail. In human form, he has bright orange hair and green eyes. In some aspects, he looks similar to Goodfellow, though quite a bit taller, and generally adorns a green cloak. It should be a bit easier to spot him in human form than another fey, though, because he will more than likely still be sporting his ears."

"You mean we'll see a tall ginger with cat ears walking around?" Puck asked, looking amused. "Man, just thinking about that is funny."

"And he's a Winter Cait Sith, right?" Trinity prompted Demon, who nodded. "Right…then we've got one cat to look for once we get to Arcadia. How many others are in Summer territory?"

"Just three after Sorrel," replied Demon. "And they live moderately close to the court, though enough out of the way that they don't have to deal with the constant interruptions by the Summer Knights and Oberon if he decides to go hunting. After them, all of my other possible sources live in Winter, and we'll have to take serious precautions going there."

"No kidding," snorted Puck. "I don't think Mab would be there with a welcoming committee to hand out cookies and hot chocolate once we got there, do you?"

"You also have to consider Catherine's oath, Robin Goodfellow," Demon reminded him solemnly. "Her oath states that she is not by any means allowed to let Prince Sage discover her in Winter territory, or he has every right to kill her."

"Oh…" Puck looked unsettled as he recalled that conversation back to his memory. "Right…and that would be really, really bad. O-kay…so, sneak into enemy territory, avoid all hostiles and locate key targets. Sound about right?"

"Why do you make it sound like you're playing some kind of video game?" demanded Nikki with a look at the fey, who grinned.

"Because that's what it feels like," he said with a shrug. "Come on, you can't tell me you're not thinking about this like a Mario game trying to get into Bowser's castle."

"How do you even know about those games, Puck, you never played them," said Meghan with a small laugh.

"Hey, you hang around a high school long enough, you see enough to get the jist," said Puck. "Not to mention I spent a good sixteen years topside to see quite a few strange things."

"Moving on," sighed Trinity, exasperated. "We sneak into Winter territory, find the other Cait Sith you know, then get out."

"There's a small problem with the retreat," Puck said, frowning now. "You see, her daddy's a Winter Cait Sith. If we _do _find him on the other side of the trees, what do we do? She can't stay there, and how do we know he'll even want to see her?"

"We don't," murmured Demon softly. "Our only goal at this point is to find out who he is, regardless of what he feels for her. Even if he wants nothing to do with her, we will have found out his identity, and then we will hopefully be able to leave. He does not have to come with us. It would actually probably be better if he doesn't."

"You think he'd attack her or something?" Nikki asked anxiously.

"Not quite attack her," denied Demon, shaking his head. "But I cannot say that he wouldn't say some harsh words to her. Cait Sith are not generally considerate. As I said before, our kind do not love. For whatever reason that her father was with her mother, it is entirely that Catherine's father will want absolutely nothing to do with her and just as soon drive her off."

Nikki felt a small wrenching in her heart as she imagined some large cat speaking cruel words to Catherine, and seeing the hurt in her friend's face as she was denied by the very fey who had sired her. Catherine's life had always been absent a real man, save for her older brother, so she had never quite had that father-daughter closure that Nikki had had with her dad, and Nikki didn't think she would be able to stand it if they found Catherine's dad just to have him turn her away like so much garbage.

"Well, we'll just have to find him," she sighed at last. "Whatever happens will happen, and I think Cat probably knows the risks already, or she wouldn't have bothered asking to find him."

"I agree with you," Demon said. "And I already explained these possibilities to Catherine when she first asked me to bring her here to look for him, and she is still set on finding him. I think, in her heart, she's hoping he will at least acknowledge her, if nothing else. She's been without a father for a long time, as I understand it."

"Yeah," murmured Trinity, looking forlorn. "She's never really had a dad. Sure, her human dad stuck around for a while when she was little, but then he just up and left her and her mom. He still sent the child support checks, but she never got much else out of him than that. It's why her brother means so much to her. He's been the only really constant guy figure in her life for a long time."

Demon nodded. He had heard this all before from Catherine herself. Her human father had left her and her mother and brother when she was only a few years old, so she didn't really remember him, but he had always sent support checks to her mother to keep everything running smoothly for her and her brother. She had told him that she had learned not to expect much out of her dad, and had been somewhat relieved to hear from Demon that the man she had thought so long was her father actually had no relation to her outside of he had been the man to marry her mother and father her older brother. He had thought it odd, hearing just how little the man had meant to her, but he supposed that it was due in part to the presence of her older brother, who sounded like a very loving, considerate caretaker from what Catherine had told Demon about the boy. Demon himself had not seen the man, who was quite some years older than his sister, and did not live at home any longer.

Demon had considered at one point finding the boy and seeing if he could get possible information about Catherine's real father from him, given the boy would have been around four or five at the time that the Cait Sith—whoever he had been—would have been calling on Catherine's mother, but Catherine had asked him not to go questioning her brother. She'd been afraid he wouldn't remember anything at all and would take her for a lunatic, and she didn't want to go ruining her relationship with her brother when she could easily find the answers on her own. The one other thing that had surprised Demon was that her brother remembered her at all. Normal humans didn't generally seem to notice her aside from a rare few who managed to give her a brief, uninterested glance, but somehow her brother knew and remembered her as clearly as though she had been fully human, rather than fey. Fey escaped the general notice of humans, save for children and the random psychic, so the brother being able to keep tabs on his sister for so many years, even after leaving to be on his own, was miraculous.

"Well, now that we've settled some plans," sighed Demon, shaking his head, "I guess all that's left for us to do now is wait."

Nikki nodded her agreement. And the others quietly agreed as well, and the room fell silent.

"Man," sighed Puck dramatically, stretching his arms over his head. "These next three days can't go by fast enough."

"That's because you have absolutely no patience," Ash told him dully.

Puck made a face at his rival, then turned to Nikki.

"I want to go swimming," he told her, causing her to stare at him. "Care to join me? Clothes are totally optional."

He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, a huge grin splitting his face as she ogled him.

"…I oughta slap you so hard," she told him once she'd gotten her brain back in its socket, and he laughed openly.

"I was kidding," he told her, chortling in amusement.

"No you weren't," she told him, glaring. "You totally meant it! You thought I'd just go skinny dipping in some pond with you?"

"Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?" Puck said, and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "Come on, gorgeous, there's a lake around the corner from here just calling my name and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't mind a dip, either. You can keep your skivvies on if it makes you feel better."

"I'm not going swimming with you!" Nikki said, her entire face a very vibrant shade of red as she pointedly glared at Puck who had slid off his stool but now turned back with both eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"You really want to bet on that?" he asked her with a wicked smile, "Because I can bet you your bra that you'll lose."

"No!" snapped Nikki, crossing her arms self consciously over her chest and continuing to give him a warning look as he slowly sidled up to her, hands behind his back, and a fiendish fire gleaming in his emerald eyes. "Robin Goodfellow, I swear, if you do what I think you're thinking of doing, I will have Ash castrate you."

"Oooh, what a thing to say," said Puck, feigning a look of hurt and alarm.

"I'd happily oblige her," Ash said from his seat, giving Puck a darkly amused look. "It's crossed my mind before now to do it in any case, I was just waiting for the opportune moment."

"Well, this would be that moment," Nikki told him, for a split second taking her eyes off of Puck, who was still smirking deviously. A mistake on her part.

No sooner had she turned a blind eye to the Summer fiend, he had stepped forward and locked his arms around her waist, hoisting her into the air so she shrieked in alarm as she was slung across his shoulders. The sense of déjà vu stole over her as she hung, head down, over Puck's shoulder, and she slammed a fist angrily against his back.

"_Robin Goodfellow!_" she snapped.

"Yes," he sang at her, already making his way towards the door while everyone else looked on in amusement.

"Put me down!"

"Haven't we had this discussion before?" he sighed as he yanked the door open with his free hand, his other arm locked around her knees to keep her from slipping. "I feel like I won last time if we did."

"You did," Trinity said, grinning as she watched her friend get swept out of the hut.

"Tri!" shrieked Nikki, taking her last stand at safety by grabbing the frame of the door and clinging to it for dear life when Puck would have spirited her away, "Tri! Get over here and make this idiot put me down!"

"What do I get out of it?" asked Trinity with a wicked grin.

"_Trinity!"_

Trinity burst out laughing as Nikki continued her vain attempt to claw at the door frame, and heaved herself out of her chair.

"Alright, Nik, I'm coming," she snickered, striding forward to take her friend by the wrists. A look of relief swept across Nikki's face, right before Trinity detached her friend's hands from the door and released her, allowing Puck to continue his forward march.

"_Trinity Daniels!"_ Nikki exclaimed, horrified. "You traitor!"

"Enjoy your swim!" Trinity called after her, waving merrily as Puck carried her friend further into the trees, trying not to laugh openly at the stunned and horrified look in her friend's eyes. "If you eat anything on the way, remember to wait an hour before going in!"

And with that she closed the door and returned to her stool, giggling to herself.

"That was mean," said Meghan, half laughing, half shocked. "What if he strips her naked?"

"I'm not worried," Trinity said with a roll of her sapphire eyes. "She'd kill him if he tried anything without direct permission."

"I just hope Goodfellow doesn't decide to take a dip in a kelpie-infested lake," sighed Ash wearily, though he also looked amused.

"No kelpies in the lake around here," Spindle said. "Just nymphs. Though they're meddlesome enough."

"Ah, water nymphs," sighed Glitch, looking resigned. "Well, if Goodfellow doesn't strip your friend out of her clothes, they will. Girls or not, they take some mean fun in messing with whatever fey jump in their water."

"Oh, joy," groaned Trinity, now feeling a little less proud of her actions, and was just getting to her feet when a hand fell on her arm, restraining her.

Looking around in surprise, it was to find Tertius there, keeping his hand gently on her arm. When their eyes met, he offered his casual small smile.

"They'll be fine," he told her softly. "Goodfellow may be an idiot at the best of times, but he can also wise up when the situation requires it. He won't let anything bad happen to her."

Trinity hesitated, gazing uncertainly back into Tertius's glowing silver eyes as he gave her a reassuring look, then with a sigh she settled back down, though she still didn't look quite convinced.

"I'm trusting you on this," she told the knight seriously, giving him a hard look. "If Nikki comes running back in here crying about being sexually harassed by a bunch of nymphs and a Summer faery, it's on you for not letting me go get her."

Tertius chuckle and shook his head.

"You have my word, mi'lady," he said, bowing his head, "Nicolette will be fine with Goodfellow. And if not, I will gladly carry out any revenge you deem necessary against him or the nymphs before you take your fury out on me."

"I don't think we'll have to go that far," said Tri, looking a little startled, "Though I won't say I don't like the idea of you going charging off to terrify water nymphs at this time of night."

Tertius gave her another wan smile, then offered her another serving of soup, which she accepted.

In the meantime, a good ten minutes out of the way, Nikki was struggling and squirming every which way she could think of and pounding Puck's back as the faery continued to carry her easily through the woods.

"_Robin Goodfellow!_" she exclaimed for the umpteenth time as he hopped lightly across a log, barely jostling her on the way. "_I am commanding you to put me down this minute!"_

"Say please" sighed Puck, smirking as he continued to walk through the trees, only pausing once to check his direction before turning on his heel and marching westward.

"_Please_, put me down," Nikki begged.

"Are you going to go swimming with me?"

"No!"

"Then I'm afraid I will have to continue hauling you along, beautiful. Can't have you running off screaming like a banshee and getting Lady Trinity on my case," said Puck, finally coming to a stop as they came into a clearing with a very broad pond in the center. "Ah, here we are!"

"No!" Nikki slammed a fist on his back again as he marched down to the shore of the crystal clear pond. "Puck! Put me down! I am not getting in that water! I don't have a swimsuit!"

"Pah," he said, unconcerned. "Just go in your skivvies, Nik. You'll be fine."

"It's probably freezing!" she said desperately, peering anxiously under his arm as the pond drew nearer the closer he walked.

"Nikki, darling," he sighed, and with a familiarly abrupt motion he'd flipped her upright and dropped her on her feet, steadying her when she would have gone teetering backwards into the water, "We are in the middle of Summer lands. You really think we have _cold _water here? What do you take us for?"

He grinned as she glared up at him, then knocked his knuckles against her head.

"Come on, then," he said cheerfully. "Let's go play with some nymphs."

"I don't want to," she said stiffly, shaking her head.

"Why not?" he asked with the most pathetic look she'd ever seen him give. His emerald eyes became very round, and his lower lip came out in a pout.

"I don't want to," she repeated, looking away and glaring at a nearby rock. Wait, had it moved…? "I'm serious, Robin. I don't want to get in the water…"

Puck hesitated then, mildly surprised at the name she had called him. It wasn't that he was unused to hearing someone call him 'Robin', just that normally it was followed by his last name: 'Goodfellow'. Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Goodfellow. Those were the names he was generally called. He hadn't heard anyone call him just Robin before, and definitely not Nikki. That could only mean one thing…

He sighed softly, and dropped his hands on her shoulders so she glanced up at him uncertainly, and he smiled warmly down at her.

"You really don't want to go in the water?" he asked gently. She blinked at him, her dark eyes wide.

"No, I don't" she said quietly.

"Would you at least consider putting your feet in while I take a dip?" he asked reaching up to push a stray lock of mahogany hair out of her face. "Please?"

He added the pleading because she still looked like she'd rather just go back to the hut, but for some reason he didn't particularly want to be by himself. It had never bothered him before, coming out to a pond in the middle of the night and being stupid with a bunch of water nymphs who would play with him until the sun came up, but this time he didn't really want to just joke around with nymphs. He just wanted to spend some time with Nikki…even if she didn't actually get in the water with him.

It was a silly, stupid kind of thing, but that was the kind of person he was. Silly, stupid, and totally unreasonable.

"Please?" he asked again, more gently this time, while Nikki chewed uncertainly on her lower lip and looked down at her toes. "Nothing's going to eat you, I promise…Just hang out with me for now?"

She looked up at him then, her chocolate brown eyes glittering in the starlight overhead, and he offered another smile. She felt her heart thump a little harder than was normal, and twisted her hands together in front of her, feeling lost. She was very dead set that she didn't want to go swimming. She just didn't quite feel comfortable going into a lake with a group of nymphs—no matter how nice they might be—and swimming around in her underwear. But she hadn't been expecting Puck to say something like that, that he just wanted to hang out with her. At least, that's how she interpreted his words. Generally, 'just hang out with me' meant the person asking wanted you to stick around. She guessed she should have expected that he'd want her around. Hadn't he just told her a few nights ago that he liked her? Robin Goodfellow may be a goof and a bit of an idiot, but he wasn't a liar, and he didn't lead people on, either.

She heaved a deep sigh, gazing up into Puck's glowing emerald eyes, feeling like she could so easily get lost in those depths, and smiled slightly.

"If you pull me in," she said in a mock threatening voice, "I _will _have Ash castrate you when we get back to the hut."

Puck's face broke into a huge grin and he laughed. "You have my word," he said, putting a hand to his heart, "I won't drag you into the pond to be set upon by nymphs. I like my manhood the way it is and I'd rather like to keep it attached to the rest of my body. As I understand it, not even you humans with all your fancy, shmancy technology have managed to properly transpose a man's genitals onto his body after he's been separated from them."

"I wouldn't know about it if we have," Nikki said, laughing and making a face at the thought. "But thanks so much for the nasty imagery. That's about as good as imagining you and Ash making out somewhere."

"I can't believe you remembered that," said Puck in shamed disbelief. "I can't believe I even said it!"

"I thought it was funny," she giggled as she kicked off her shoes and Puck stepped back to shed his shirt.

"Well, at least someone did," he sighed, shaking his red hair out of his eyes as he straightened up, tossing his shirt to the side by her shoes and turning back to face her.

Momentarily, Nikki was thrown by Robin Goodfellow. She'd never really stopped to really look at him, but here, in the middle of a starlit forest, standing next to a pond while he shed his shirt and pants—leaving his boxers in place—she was very much aware of him. Before, she'd seen him as kind of lanky and clumsy, but looking at the smooth muscles of his back and chest as he turned, and the graceful movements of his muscular arms as he haphazardly folded his jeans and tossed them aside, she felt a little thrown just standing there watching him. She even became more aware of the graceful points of his fey ears as they poked up through the vibrant redness of his hair. She saw a glint in one of them and blinked to realize he wore an earring in one of them.

"Hey," she said quietly, stepping up to him as he straightened again.

"Hm?" Puck blinked down at her as she walked right up to him, feeling a little startled at how close she was, and the intense gaze she was fixing him with as she lifted a hand towards his face. He went very still, waiting for the warmth of her fingertips to touch his skin, and nearly coming right out of it as she brushed a touch across the tip of his ear. "Ah-ha! No!"

He seized her hand, yanking it away rapidly, feeling a thrill run down the entire length of his body so the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, and she was staring up at him with wide, confused brown eyes.

"That," he said, blinking rapidly at her and trying not to notice how fast his heart was pumping, "Is a strictly off limits part."

"Your ear?" she asked, bewildered. "Why?"

"Just is," he mumbled, clearing his throat.

"But you're wearing an earring," she said, frowning. "I thought you couldn't touch metal."

"It's bronze," he explained quickly, trying to breathe normally. He still felt that chill running down his spine and it had him nearly dancing on the spot. "Bronze doesn't hurt fey like iron and steel does."

"Oh," she said softly in understanding, her eyes flickering up to the emerald stud in his pointed ear. Then she blinked at him and frowned. "Why can't I touch your ears?"

"Why do you want to?" he asked helplessly, still keeping a firm grip on her hand lest she make another grab for his ear.

"Because they're really pretty," she said simply, reaching up with her free hand. He pinned that hand, too. "Puck!"

"I believe you've heard the phrase 'look but don't touch'?" he asked. "Besides, you can touch your own ears, can't you? They're just like mine."

"I know that, but it's different," she insisted. "It's not the same to just touch your own ears. Besides, I like your ears. They look very…regal."

Despite the tension thrumming in his body, Puck scoffed at the word. He'd been called innumerable things in his long life, but 'regal' had never been one of them. He almost wished Ash had been here for that one, just for the look on the prince's face to hear someone call Puck 'regal'.

"Why are you laughing?" Nikki demanded, looking a little annoyed.

"Because I'm pretty sure you're the first one to call me something so nice," he told her, still chuckling, and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "And I was imagining the look on ice-boy's face if he heard you say that to me. I feel like it'd be about the same as the time he got slapped across the face."

"Ash got slapped?" Nikki asked, amazed. "Damn, who had the balls to do that?"

Puck smirked. "Me."

"Oh, of course," she said, rolling her eyes. "I should have guessed that. Now, you didn't answer my question. Why can't I touch your ears?"

"Because I said so," he said with a sigh.

"That's not an answer," she told him dully.

"Why can't I touch your ass?" he asked, arching a brow.

"Because you're not allowed!" she said, shocked that he would even ask.

"And why am I not allowed?" he inquired.

"Because I said so!"

"There you go." He smirked when she glared. "Trust me, beautiful. Some things are better left untouched."

"I don't think ears should really qualify," Nikki told him, narrowing her brown eyes at him. "That's like saying touching people's noses is off limits."

"You really think of the strangest places, don't you?" said Puck in amusement, keeping a firm grip on her hands as he turned them around so he was backing towards the water and she was walking forward.

"Just tell me why," she pleaded. "If you can give me a really good reason why, I won't touch them again. I promise."

Puck arched his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked. "You seriously promise you won't try to touch my ears again if I tell you why it bothers me?"

"I really promise," she said seriously, nodding. "If it seriously bothers you, I won't. I just like to know why, Robin, that's all."

There she went again calling him his official name, and only the first part of it. It was amazing how simply a name could get his stomach turning into a bunch of knots until he felt like mush, but there it was. That was the power of a name. Fey never took names for granted, whether it was their given name or their True Name, and Robin Goodfellow was smart enough to keep that in mind as he faced Nikki with a small frown on his face.

"You won't laugh, either?" he asked uncertainly, eyeing her.

"I promise," she said again, meaning it. "Why would I laugh?"

"Because it's stupid," he said bluntly.

"You asked me not to laugh, so I won't," she told him softly. "I promise, Robin. I won't laugh, and I won't touch them again."

He eyed her for a moment longer, his emerald eyes contemplative, then glanced over his shoulder at the pond to make sure no nymphs happened to be eavesdropping, and when he found them still alone, he heaved a resigned sigh, leaned forward so his lips brushed her ear, slender and pointed like his, and whispered under his breath, so quietly that even the crickets could have drowned him out… Nikki stood there and listened to him, her eyes growing very wide when he finally pulled away to look at her with a rather wary expression, as though he was just waiting for her to burst into laughter. She didn't. She simply stared at him, and he looked back, his cheeks a light rose color.

"Oh," she said after a moment, and her face darkened with color. "Sorry…"

"No touchie?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No touchie," she agreed with a small smile.

He sighed and finally released her hands, looking relieved. "Thank God," he said, putting his hands on his hips and grinning, "And don't go telling that to anyone else. You and I are the only people alive right now who now about it."

"Yes, sir," she said, solemnly crossing her heart and grinning. "I'm guessing you just killed off the other people who knew, huh?"

"Nah, I'm not that vicious," he said with a smirk. "They just mysteriously get lost and don't show up again. I don't really know what happens to them after that."

Nikki laughed. "You're such a dork, Robin," she said, her eyes dancing with merriment as he grinned at her.

"Ah, but I am not just _a _dork," he said pompously, drawing himself up and looking very self-important. "I am _the _dork."

"Of course," she giggled. "I forgot. Robin Goodfellow, _the _Dork."

"And don't soon forget it, either, ma'am," he told her with a wink. "Now, if you'll give me half a mo, I'm going swimming. Just relax here, dangle your feet, chat up whatever nymphs decide to come mingle, and I'll be right back."

And with that he turned and dove head first into the pond, spraying up water so Nikki squealed as the droplets sprinkled her like rain. Shaking the water out of her eyes, she looked up to see Puck's vivid red hair surface a few feet out from the edge, more towards the center, and then his green eyes as he turned to wave at her, grinning. She rolled her eyes and waved idly back as she set herself down on the bank and tentatively dropped her feet into the lukewarm water, watching Puck begin to do a strong backstroke across the crystal surface of the pond, sending ripples in every direction. She noticed he was a very good swimmer, his arms churning powerfully in the water, propelling himself through it. A couple times he dived straight down, and didn't resurface for quite a long time, but then he would reappear, shaking his sopping hair out of his eyes and grin at her from across the water.

After a few minutes of floating lazily on his back, Puck turned over and swam over to her, his eyes alight with joy as he came to a halt in front of her, the water just deep enough that he had to stand on his tip toes to keep his head up.

"You're missing all the fun, beautiful," he told her with a huge grin.

"I'm good here," she told him, reaching out to pat his soaking wet head. "Besides, you make me look like a really bad swimmer, so I definitely don't want to go make an idiot of myself trying to out-swim you."

"Are you kidding?" Puck looked disbelieving, "Nik, come on now. You're part dryad."

"Yes, and I thought dryads lived in trees," she said, cocking an eyebrow and smirking.

"They do, most of the time," he agreed, "But they also soak up water most of their time and have a generally good ability at swimming."

"Good, not great," Nikki corrected him. "I'm staying here, Robin."

He heaved a dramatic sigh, floating on his back again and sticking his tongue out at her.

"If I were meaner, I'd splash you," he said.

"But you won't," she said, smiling.

"I won't," he agreed, smiling back. "But I should."

She gave him a warning look and he laughed, ducking his head momentarily under the water before reappearing, swimming right up to the very edge and propping his arms on the bank as he looked up at her through glittering emerald eyes.

"Will you swim with me next time?" he asked hopefully.

"Maybe," she said, uncertain.

"I'll take 'maybe' over 'no'," he said, smiling softly up at her. "Too bad you didn't bring your bikini with you."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't wear a bikini, Robin," she told him exasperatedly.

His eyebrows shot up and a smirk curled his lip. "Kinky," he said with a wink. She glared and reached forward to splash water in his face. He shook it out of his eyes, laughing raucously.

"You pervert!" she snapped at him, kicking more water at him as he swam backwards away from her still laughing like a maniac. "I take it back! I'm having Ash castrate you anyway!"

"I'm sorry," Puck gasped through his laughter, beaming at her through his dripping bangs, "Sorry. I just couldn't resist."

"You're such a perv," she muttered as he swam slowly back towards her.

"But you love me anyway," he sighed, stopping in front of her and resting his chin on her knees, looking up at her through glowing emerald eyes.

She looked down at him, for a moment not sure what to say in response to his words, and he gazed back without uttering a word, his expression open and gentle. Nikki realized this was the first time she and Puck had really been alone since they'd first met, only their first encounter hadn't really had as much to consider about it as now did. When they'd first met, he'd been a Summer faery, hanging out in the human world for kicks and giggles with nothing else to do, and she'd been a wandering human who ended up being half human. He'd brought to Nevernever because she'd asked, and he'd acted as her guide and guardian that whole time. A few days ago, he'd confessed that he had feelings for her—as inadvertently as he'd managed to confess them, anyway—and now they were alone, in the middle of the night, at the edge of a pond. He was basically naked, save his boxers, and though she was only barefoot she was very much aware of just how alone they were, who unclothed he was, and how very attracted to him she was. But it wasn't just attraction. She knew better than to let that affect her after so many years.

Attraction was a pale excuse for why people said they were in love, and she didn't believe for a minute that people who went for each other based solely on the other's looks ever really felt love for each other. Maybe they got lucky and fell in love with the other person's personality and mind and everything else, but she'd never really seen it happen that way. If it started out based on looks, it usually stayed based on looks. But that wasn't how she felt with Puck… He was good looking, sure, definitely something to look at, but that wasn't all.

He was smart—despite his fondness of playing the fool—and he was funny. He was easy to get along with, and she could never stay really mad at him no matter what he did. He made her laugh and it felt so easy just to talk to him about the simplest thing. And she'd never felt awkward being around him. Even after his confession, she'd never felt uncomfortable being near him, because he'd never made it hard for her to be around him. He knew she would think over what he'd said, and he gave her the space she needed. He didn't nag or pester her about her feelings, trusting her to come to her own conclusion, even if that conclusion didn't include him in her life. He was patient, and she could see, just from the look in his emerald eyes as he gazed up at her now, that he would wait forever if he had for her.

"I do, you know," she murmured at last, breaking the peaceful silence between them.

"Do what?" he asked quietly.

"Love you," she murmured, feeling her heart accelerate as she said it, and her cheeks burned as she undoubtedly blushed, but she never dropped her gaze from his, staring straight into his eyes so she could see how they grew round at her words, clearly amazed.

They stared at each other for a long moment, and then a smile broke across Puck's face and he straightened up slightly, lifting his head from her lap to look straight into her face, and leaned forward so their foreheads touched. His gaze was warm all the way through as he smiled softly at her.

"I'm really glad," he told her softly. And he meant it.

She smiled back at him, though her heart was thundering almost too loudly in her chest. She could feel his warm breath on her lips, and was tempted to just lean in and close that two inches separation. Before she could move, though, Puck did, leaning in very slowly, and she felt her breath hitch as his lips barely brushed hers. Her eyes fluttered closed as he exhaled softly against her mouth, and she waited for him to move that last centimeter forward, feeling her heart race and her head spin dizzyingly.

A loud splash startled her, and Puck jerked back suddenly, cursing as he turned to look over his shoulder towards the center of the pond. When Nikki opened her eyes, feeling both very faint and very annoyed, it was to see the face of a young girl appearing out of the water. She had flowing hair the color of sea foam, a faint greenish-blue color that brought attention to her fair skin, and her large, aquamarine eyes as she floated in the water, staring at Nikki and Puck from across the pond.

"Nymph," muttered Puck, sounding sullen. "Jeez, they really know how to ruin a moment, don't they?"

Nikki didn't speak. She felt like she might say something stupid if she opened her mouth.

Puck sighed, raking a hand in annoyance through his hair, and turned back to her, offering a kind of resigned smile.

"Care to move the party elsewhere, beautiful?" he asked idly. "I think I've had my fill of swimming to be honest. I'm actually kind of hungry again, come to think of it."

As he spoke, he reached for the bank, ready to haul himself out beside her, but the minute he got his hands on the ground and was heaving himself up, a pair of long, slender arms appeared from the water, wrapping around his shoulders, holding him back.

"Ah, jeez," he muttered a split second before a second nymph yanked him backwards into the water, sending water flying in all directions. Nikki held up her hands automatically, shielding herself from the spray, then dropped her arms to stare out in disbelief to where Puck had burst back up to the surface, coughing and spluttering as five—no, six—giggling nymphs now had him corralled. The one that had pulled him in was still clinging to his back, beaming, as he wiped water out of his eyes with a disgruntled mutter.

"Puck!" Nikki called, getting to her feet.

"I'm fine," he called to her, waving a hand. "Just dandy! I'll be there in a sec, just let me talk to these chicks!"

Nikki frowned as she watched the six nymphs circle Puck, giggling and batting their eyelashes in an obviously flirtatious manner while Puck put up his hands, smiling weakly.

"Look, girls," he said, and their giggling increased. "It's great to see you and all, but I've about had my fill here and was just heading home for some food. So, if you could get off my back"—he cast a look at the blue haired nymph still clinging to his shoulders—"I'd really appreciate it so I can get going."

"Stay," chimed one of the nymphs, latching onto his arm.

"You haven't played with us in ages," another complained, catching his other arm and holding it to her ivory breast, pouting at him.

Standing on shore, Nikki felt a low boiling in the pit of her stomach, and her hands clenched into fists as she glared across the water to where the nymph girls continued to throw themselves on Puck, simpering and smiling invitingly up at him.

"Really, girls, I've got to hightail it," Puck said, trying to kick his way back over to Nikki, but the nymphs kept pulling him back, giggling eagerly as they toyed with his hair, tracing his muscles and watching him with alluring blue and pale green eyes. "If you'd showed up earlier, I'm sure we could have played 'Marco Polo' but it's getting late and I've got someone waiting for me."

He flashed a frantic look over at Nikki, who was starting to feel her blood burning in her veins as she clenched and unclenched her hands, standing rigidly on the bank. The nymphs looked over at her as well and gave her dismissive looks before turning their avid attention back on Puck.

"Let her wait," one of them, a nymph with flowing silver hair and bright sapphire eyes, said uncaringly. "If she doesn't want to come in, then it's her problem."

Nikki's eyes flashed furiously at the nymph and she felt a slow build in pressure around her. No one else seemed to pay mind, but overhead the leaves in the trees around her started to rustle in discontent. Puck was snapping at the one nymph who'd been so flippant about Nikki, and she was staring at him as though he might just as well have smacked her.

"Look, don't talk about her like that," Puck was telling the girl, his emerald eyes flashing as he shook her off his arm. "And I'm serious, I'm leaving!"

He broke away from the other nymphs, who stared after him for a long moment, looking caught between shock and heartbreak, before the first one that had appeared, the one with the long green hair and aquamarine eyes, seemed to compose herself and shot after Puck, seizing him by the arm.

"Stay with us," she whined, dragging him back, and the other nymphs flocked forward as well. "Just play for a little bit, Puck!"

"Yes, stay with us," the others chorused, clutching at his arms and torso.

"Hey, girls, get off," Puck said, beginning to grow impatient as he brushed them off again, but they were persistent and kept latching on to him.

Nikki could feel the pressure in her continuing to build, and the trees around her were now moaning as a harsh wind blew through them, scattering leaves. She watched as the green haired nymph locked her arms around Puck's neck and reached up to breathe softly into his ear, causing him to go completely rigid.

"Stay," the nymph whispered pleadingly, pressing herself into Puck.

Nikki felt herself snap, and for a moment her vision went red. When it cleared again, it was to see the nymphs scattering in all directions with shrieks of alarm as the mighty branch of an oak tree swept down towards them, slamming into the water and spraying glittering droplets everywhere. A second branch descended towards Puck, who grabbed onto it as it circled his waist, yanking him clean out of the water to drop him on dry land beside Nikki, who was shaking with fury as she glared into the now empty pond. The nymphs didn't come back up, probably for fear of being attacked again, and the tree that had bent to her will now straightened back to its usual form, creaking softly.

Puck lay flat on his back, panting as he stared up at the monolithic tree, his emerald eyes wide, before rolling slowly onto his side to look up at Nikki as she continued to glare furiously out over the pond.

"Nikki," he said softly, but she turned away from him.

"I'm going back to Spindle's," she said in a tense voice, her shoulders rigid as she walked away, only stopping to snatch her Converse from the bank before walking right out of the clearing.

"Nikki!" Puck raced to grab his clothes yanking on his jeans and shirt, before racing after her. She didn't stop once, or turn her head as he called her, and finally he caught up to her, grabbing her by the arm. "Hey!"

"Leave me alone!" she snapped, yanking her arm away.

Puck fell back, staring at her in disbelief. She stormed away from him, still rigid, and her face turned so he couldn't see the angry tears burning in her eyes.

She didn't want him to see her crying. She kind of felt like she had no reason to cry, and at the same time she felt like she had every right to be crying if she wanted to. She had just been telling Puck to his face that she loved him, and then a bunch of stupid nymphs had to but in and play touch-and-feel with him and act like she didn't even matter. And then that one bitch nymph had gone and gotten that close to Puck's ears…Just thinking about it again made her blood boil, and she heard the trees groan in response to her anger as the glamour poured off of her in tangible waves, sending leaves scattering as she passed.

Puck was following behind her, watching the chaos being wrought by Nikki's glamour, remembering what he'd heard about an angry dryad never being someone you wanted to go up against. But he wasn't trying to fight Nikki, he was trying to figure out how to fix the problem. She was angry and upset, he could easily sense that in the glamour she was throwing off, and he felt in part responsible. After all, they'd been sitting on the bank and she'd confessed to him. The one thing he'd been waiting for nearly for weeks, and she'd finally had the courage to say it, and they had to end up interrupted by a bunch of groupie nymphs. It was definitely not how he'd planned things to go. At first, sure, he would have been fine if they'd shown up, but they'd only popped up when he and Nikki were trying to be serious with each other, and they'd screwed it up.

Part of him said to just leave Nikki be, and let her work it out of her system, but another part of him felt that if they got back to Spindle's before he'd stopped her and taken the chance to talk everything out she'd go to pretending like everything was fine and then they'd never talk about it and there would be a big ass rift between them. And he didn't like that idea at all…

"She's going to slap me so hard," he muttered to himself, even as he jogged the few steps forward to catch Nikki by her clenched hand. "Nikki."

"Let go of me!" she snapped, trying to shake him off but this time he didn't let her and only tightened his grip, at the same time digging his heels into the ground so she was forced to stop, too.

He half expected her to turn on him, swinging her free hand right into his jaw, but she didn't. Instead, she went motionless and still, facing away from him, her entire arm locked tight, just like the rest of her.

"Nikki," he said softly, and she tensed even more. "I know you probably want to slap the living daylights out of me, and I wouldn't blame you if you did. I probably deserve it, but at least—"

"I don't want to slap you," mumbled Nikki, cutting across him.

Puck blinked. "What?"

Nikki heaved a sigh, finally letting some of the tension drain out of her so her shoulders slumped, and she glanced uneasily back at him, her brown eyes sad. "I don't want to slap you," she said quietly. "I'm not really mad at you… You didn't do anything."

Puck stared at her, taken aback. "Then…what's wrong?" he asked softly, his gaze tender. He already knew somewhat what the problem was, but he asked anyway. He needed her to voice it aloud.

"I hated those nymphs," Nikki grumbled, lifting a hand to wipe at the glittering tears in those eyes. "I felt like…I don't know. They just showed up, uninvited, and I know we were in their pond and everything, but you and I were talking and everything and they just came up and butted in…I was really pissed off…"

Puck smiled softly at her, loosening his grip on her wrist when he felt she would no longer take a swing at him, instead raising his hand to brush back her hair, which had been around by the earlier wind she'd conjured with her glamour and now stuck out in several different places. Smoothing it all back, Puck gazed down at her and murmured,

"I'm sorry. It wasn't fair for them to show up like that…"

Nikki shook her head lamely, feeling so petty as she stood there with Puck petting her hair, thinking back over what she'd just done. He shouldn't have to apologize for a bunch of groupies. He really hadn't done anything. He'd been the one telling them all to get off and leave him alone when they were hassling him. He hadn't wanted to stay with them…He'd been trying to get back to her.

"You shouldn't apologize," she told him with a heavy sigh, and turned around to face him, leaning forward slightly so she could rest her forehead against his chest, his t-shirt slightly damp against her skin. "It really wasn't your fault, Robin…I'm sorry I lost my temper like that…"

"Hey, that's not your fault, either," he chastised her, carefully bringing his arms up to embrace her, pulling her against him, and she buried her face more firmly against his chest while he rested his head on hers. "They were being frisky little bitches. Besides"—he grinned against her hair—"that was totally awesome how you got that tree to play 'Whack-A-Nymph'. Think you could do it again with ice-boy and his minions?"

Nikki smiled slightly, letting her eyes drift closed as Puck trailed his fingers lightly through her hair, his arms tight around her. He felt very warm, she thought vaguely, and very strong…and he had a scent about him she hadn't really noticed before. It was kind of woodsy, but also wild and unusual, just like him. It kind of reminded her of spices and fire.

"I'd have to get really pissed off," she said, "If I want to move a tree again. To be honest, I'm kind of tired now from doing it, and I'm not even sure _what _I did."

"Glamour," Puck said knowingly. "That's all I can say about it. You let out your glamour and the tree responded to you. You are a dryad, after all."

"But I don't know how I got my glamour to work like that," she sighed, frowning. "I wish I did…I always feel kind of useless not being able to use glamour like you and Ash and Meghan can. Even Grimalkin can disappear without warning, and Tertius and Glitch have their Iron glamour."

Tilting her head back to look up at him, her expression suddenly, confusingly hopeful, she blinked her large eyes at him.

"Uh-oh," he said jokingly, eyeing her uncertainly, "What up with the look, Nik?"

"Teach me?" she asked eagerly. "To use my glamour. You can teach me, right? We both use Summer glamour, so you should be able to show me how to at least use some of it."

"Why did I know that was what was going to come out of your mouth?" he groaned, looking weary. "I just knew it!"

"You won't teach me?" she asked, looking crestfallen.

"I didn't say that," he denied.

"You didn't say you would, either," she pointed out, frowning.

Puck groaned again, burying his face in her hair just to avoid looking into her face, which was starting to look akin to a puppy's when someone kicked it clean across a room, and began to rack his brain frantically.

"I'll make you a deal," he said at last, and Nikki felt immediately wary as the faery pulled back to give her a searing look. "Just hear me out on this, because I can tell you're about ready to take off the minute I shoot the pistol, but just breathe and listen for a sec."

Nikki didn't move or speak, and instead looked up at him cautiously, measuring his expression as he gazed back down at her.

"Alright," she said slowly, "Let's hear it, then."

"I teach you to use glamour," he bargained, "And _you_…" He trailed off looking thoughtful.

"You don't even know what to ask me for," she said, exasperated. "Really? You couldn't have thought it up before going around making a deal?"

"I'm taking my time building up to the grand climax, now give me a hot second," he told her, pressing a finger to her lips to silence her. "You can't rush these things, you know. It is a delicate art of selecting precisely the right favor to fit the person whom you are asking."

She gave him a disbelieving look, both eyebrows shooting up. He smirked.

"I teach you to use glamour," he said again, "And you do one little thing for me. Okay?"

Reaching up to move his hand away from her mouth, she asked, "And what would that one little thing be, exactly? Because I'm not going swimming in that pond with those groupies if that's what you're about to ask."

"Hell no," he exclaimed, looking appalled. "I'm not going back in there, so why should I make you?"

"Just checking to be sure," she snickered. "Go on, then. This favor of yours that is oh-so-important?"

"Ah, right." Puck cleared his throat, looking very serious and official as he drew himself up imperiously. "My favor," he said in a very firm voice, "Is that you, dear lady of the wood, give me a kiss."

As he had suspected it would, it got very silent very quickly, and Nikki stood staring up at him like he might as well have just grown a set of gills and fish lips. Her mouth has hanging open slightly, and her brown eyes were enormous with shock.

"Eh, what?" she asked, her tone indicating she thought he was bluffing.

"A kiss, lady, a kiss," he sighed, grinning down at her. "You know? That thing where when a boy and a girl like each other very much—"

"That's sex, you moron!"

Puck burst out laughing, throwing his head back and just letting it pour from him while Nikki turned vividly pink in the face, still gaping at him for all the world like he was some kind of mystical phenomenon. Maybe she was waiting for him to sprout wings, too.

"You kill me," he snickered, looking back at her, his emerald eyes sparkling. "Really, that was too funny. But, seriously, Nik, I'm not some kind of satyr trying to hit it off for the night. I'm just asking for one teensy weensy little kiss."

He regarded her stunned expression carefully, wondering to himself why she seemed so completely shocked with the suggestion. After all, hadn't she been preparing to lay one on him right before the nymphs had gone and stuck their noses in where they didn't belong? No, wait, _he'd _been the one about to do the snogging, but still!

"Weren't we just about to do what I'm suggesting before those hussies interrupted?" Puck asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I…" Nikki turned even redder. "Yeah, so?"

"Yeah, so," scoffed Puck. "Oy vey… So, you're fine with just kissing without saying anything, but the minute says the forbidden word you get all hot and bothered about it?"

"I'm not getting hot and bothered," she muttered, glaring at him. "I just can't believe you flat out asked me to kiss you."

"Hey, you wanted to know what the favor was for teaching you to master your dryadic abilities," he told her with a small sniff.

"Dryadic abilities?" snorted Nikki, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment to grin up at the faery, who nodded importantly, not quite managing to hide his grin.

"Yes," he said, "Dryadic abilities. It is the much more chic way of saying dryad glamour. Just saying glamour these days is soooo passé, darling."

Nikki giggled at just how much like an old gay friend of hers Puck was managing to sound like, but she decided not to mention that part out loud and merely rolled her eyes and said, "You're crazy."

"You seem to keep forgetting just who it is you are talking to," he said with a smirk and a wink. "I am _the _marvelous, the amazing, the totally insane, the one and only Robin Goodfellow."

"Riiiiight," she said, totally entertained. "Which is the really long way of saying you're crazy."

"Indeed it is, but I digress," he said, "My favor, dear lady? Won't you give me just one tiny little kiss? Pleeeeeease?"

Nikki eyed him thoughtfully for a moment, her dark eyes narrowed skeptically as she gazed into his wide, pleading eyes, full of too-genuine innocence to be really genuine, and his quivering lower lip as he pouted at her. Man, if he could pull that off just joking around, she wondered just how well he could pull off looking like a kicked dog when he seriously wanted to.

"Alright," she sighed at last. "_One _kiss. And then you teach me to use glamour. Right?"

"Right," he said, beaming. "So, go ahead, lay one on me."

He leaned forward, eyes closed, a small grin on his face as he waited for her to let him have it. Nikki was eyeing him again, her heart thudding rapidly again as she looked between his closed eyes, with their fringe of dark lashes, and his lips, trying not to let herself start hyperventilating as she steeled herself. She was going to do it…she was going to kiss Puck… She had to just lean in a few inches…

Taking a breath, letting her eyes fall closed as well, she tensed her shoulders and began to lean forward to meet the faery's lips, but paused the last centimeter away from completing her goal, opened eye, smirked, and swiftly turned her head to the side to press a kiss to his cheek before pulling away to watch the Summer faery's eyes snap open in shock.

"Hey!" he said, looking startled as he straightened up, touching his cheek. "What was that?"

"Your kiss," she said sweetly, grinning at him. "Just like you asked. Now, teach me to use glamour."

"Nuh-uh!" said Puck, glaring as he continued to pat his cheek, as though it burned. And, really, it kind of did, though he wasn't about to admit it. "That was cheating! I meant on the lips!"

"You never _said _on the lips," she pointed out lightly, smirking. "You just said you wanted a kiss. I gave you a kiss. I kept up my end of the deal, now it's your turn."

Puck swore under his breath, glaring at her while she giggled.

"You, madam," he said, pointing a finger at her, "Are a worthy opponent. I don't believe anyone has ever managed to best me at finding loopholes."

"Well, come on, I have to better than you at _something_," Nikki said, still giggling as she rocked back on her heels, hands behind her back, eyes alight with laughter. "You're good at everything, so it's about time someone one-upped you. Ash is probably going to be sore it wasn't him, though."

"He's sore about everything," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes, hands on his hips. "I still can't believe you cheated your way out of that…"

"I didn't cheat," she said righteously, turning her nose up. "I did exactly what you said. I kissed you. You just didn't think to specify _where _I was supposed to kiss you. That's your loss."

"Feh," muttered Puck, but he was grinning. If Nikki had been anyone else to best him at his own game of dancing around the truth, he probably would have been in a sour mood for the rest of the evening, though that was probably because anyone else would have gone gloating about it to at least ten thousand other people.

Nikki had bested him, but she wasn't about to go boasting about it, and even if she did, she would only do it in sport, not in pure taunting manner like some other people he knew. And he also was kind of proud of her for managing to outsmart him. It took guts and wit to do that, which was why he'd been king of the game for so long, but apparently he was going to have to make room for the queen, too.

"I _will _get you to kiss me eventually, beautiful," he told her in a mock threatening voice, narrowing his eyes and grinning wickedly at her, "Mark my words. And you'll enjoy it, too."

"Uh-huh," she said, grinning right back at him with laughter in her eyes, making them sparkle like deep brown stars. "I'll hold my breath."

"You don't think I will?" he asked, snaking his arms around her waist before she could think to step away. "Just you wait, it'll come when you least expect. When all your defenses are down and there is no one—absolutely no one—who will come to save you from my wrath. And when it comes, you're going to be lying flat on your back, and you're not going to know what hit you until I come back for the next attack."

"You make it sound like war," she observed in amusement.

"C'est la guerre!" he declared, raising a fist proudly into the air.

"You speak French?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Mais oui," he said, grinning at her and winking. "Tu parles en francais aussi?"

"Non," she said, and he laughed.

"You knew how to say 'no'," he pointed out, his eyes twinkling with emerald light.

"I make it a habit to know how to say 'no' in multiple languages," she said, shrugging idly. "It comes in handy."

"Uh-huh," snickered Puck. "You just learn how to do it because it's fun."

"What's wrong with that?" she asked indignantly.

"Absolutely nothing," he told her, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Alrighty, then. Since we probably only have so much time since they send out the search parties to look for us, I propose we get on with the madness."

"Madness, you say?" Nikki asked as he pulled away from her, going to stand by a nearby sapling that barely came up to his chest. "I love madness."

"Good," he said, flashing his trademark smirk. "Because we're all mad here."

"What a surprise," she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright, sir, just what are we going to learn first today in Flying Faery School?"

He snorted in amusement at her wording, and pointed at the sapling beside him.

"Make it grow," he said simply.

Nikki blinked. "Okay," she said slowly, "What's the punch line?"

Puck sighed. "The one time I don't tell a joke and she thinks the punch line is late. I tell ya…"

"You really want me to make that tree grow, are you serious?" Nikki looked dumbfounded.

"Yes, I am—for once in my very long life—dead serious," sighed Puck, grinning at her. "Make it grow. I know you can."

"And pigs can fly," scoffed Nikki disbelievingly.

"Actually," Puck began, but Nikki glared at him and he bit his lips. "Anywhooooo…let me try something a little more elementary."

He lapsed into thought for a moment, considering just how would be the best way to get started in the training of training Nikki to use glamour. He felt that he should be able to start out similarly to how he had trained Meghan so many years ago, considering Nikki was a summer dryad and that meant she should be able to harness Summer glamour the same way he could. Still, he'd never really considered training a dryad before. They were secretive and aloof—basically the polar opposite of Nikki on a daily basis—and none too keen on sharing their secrets with anyone outside of their close knit circle of family and friends. So…how to get started. Well, when all else failed, he thought, trial and error had always been a great fallback plan.

"Alright," he said at last, looking up at Nikki, who was regarding him with a slightly impatient expression. "I think what we'll try first is seeing if you can harness your glamour without getting totally pissed off. That should be a good place to start."

"Hopefully," said Nikki dryly. "I'd rather not have to get pissed off just to use my glamour. I'd like to be happy about using it sometimes, too, you know."

"Trust me, you're not the only one who doesn't want you just using glamour when you're pissed off," laughed Puck. "A pissed off dryad with an arsenal of unchanneled glamour is a dangerous thing, from what I understand. And since it's you, well…" He eyed her warily. "Let's just figure out a way for you to be all smiles when you use your glamour."

Nikki leered at him. "Just because I'm smiling doesn't mean I'm happy all the time," she told him darkly.

Puck felt a chill run down his spine at the menacing way in which she was smiling at him, though he could still see laughter glowing in her eyes, and gave a low whistle.

"Nik," he sighed. "You really scare the hell out of me sometimes. Consider that a huge compliment, because even ice-boy has never managed to successfully scare me witless, and he's been threatening me with death, disembowelment and other not so nice forms of violence for the past many centuries. You, however, have managed to get me trembling in a matter of seconds just by giving me that smile."

"Are you scared, little boy?" she asked, giving a low chuckle, a very weak attempt at terrifying him, though it did nothing more than make him grin.

"I'm absolutely petrified with fear," he told her humorously. "Now, let's see…glamour…glamour, glamour, glamour…"

He tapped his chin thoughtfully, looking at the starry night sky.

"Alright," he sighed, looking back at her. "Close your eyes."

She raised an eyebrow. Sensing her reluctance, and suspecting he knew exactly what was up, he sighed.

"I promise I'm not going to come running over to kiss you or take total and utter advantage of you," he vowed, flashing her a smirk. "Though the thought has totally crossed my mind."

"Get on with it, Robin," she sighed, rolling her eyes before closing them. "My eyes are closed. There. Now what?"

"Now," said Puck, reverting to his serious milieu as he faced her, still standing rather relaxed by the sapling. "Try to picture your glamour. Imagine it is a flowing river. Feel it around you. In the air, coming from your kin in the trees, from inside of you. It's a huge force, just flowing without direction."

Nikki concentrated, her brow furrowing as she pictured in her mind the image of a flowing river of light, bright green in color, shimmering and undulating through the air, circling around her, and felt the pulse of power as it answered her call, beginning to shimmer even more brightly.

"Have you got it?" Puck asked, and she nodded, too scared to speak aloud and break her solid focus. "Now, take hold of that power in your mind. Pull it towards you, and narrow it. Make it smaller, thinner, like a rope, instead of a flood."

She took deep breaths as she focused, pulling the light to her with her mind, feeling it swirl around her, potent and dangerous, but at the same time warm and welcoming as it encircled her with light. She concentrated harder now, taking the flowing light and tightening it, imagining the flood narrowing into a thick rope, making it smaller…

"Now make it into string," Puck instructed her quietly. "The smallest string possible, and picture it wrapping around the branches of the tree, making the leaves bloom, and the branches grow out."

Nikki felt herself breaking a sweat as she clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails bit into her palms as she slowly shrank the rope of glamour in her mind down to the tiniest green thread, almost invisible, and then envisioned it wrapping its way up and around the thin, twig-like branches of the sapling, until the entire young tree was surrounded in a threadwork of gleaming green lights that fed into the branches, making them glow.

"Now make it grow," murmured Puck.

She took another deep breath and imagined the tree growing, feeding the power of her glamour into its roots and limbs and leaves, imagining the rustling as the leaves burst forth into bloom and the creaking of branches as they shot out and upward, and the mighty groan of the roots and trunk as they stretched and thickened. Then, with a final shudder as her glamour seeped right out of her, leaving her drained and swaying on the spot, the tree went still, now an enormous, towering maple in the place of the tiny growth it had been seconds before, reaching up to the stars.

Nikki heaved a deep sigh, opening her eyes, expecting her imagination to fade away as soon as she looked at the sapling, except there was no sapling to look at. Instead, the monstrously huge tree stood in its place, just as she'd imagined, standing nearly thirty-feet in the air, with branches as thick around as a log, and a trunk now nearly ten times the size of its original girth. Puck was nowhere to be seen, though he'd been standing beside the sapling before she'd grown it, and she looked around, confused, tired, but very, very accomplished.

"Robin?" she called uncertainly, walking tiredly up to the tree and peering around behind it, expecting to see him there.

"You're a natural, beautiful!" a voice called from above her, laughing jubilantly. "And the view up here is out of this world!"

Craning her neck back, hardly daring to believe it, she spotted Puck clutching at one of the huge branches, his grin clearly visible as he looked down at her with pride and laughter gleaming in his emerald eyes.

"How the hell did you get up there?" she demanded, staring.

"I hopped on as it was growing," Puck laughed, beaming. "This is _brilliant_, Nik! I knew you had mad skills, but I didn't think you'd grow a thirty-foot tree!"

He laughed again, finally letting go of the branch to drop straight down so she gasped in alarm, but he caught a low hanging branch at the last ten feet and swung around it to slow his momentum before landing feet first on the ground, grinning hugely as he reached out an arm to drag her into a back breaking hug.

"Ow!" she gasped. "Robin—breathing—ow!"

"Right, right," he laughed, letting her go so she staggered away, now gasping for air and trying not to fall flat on her ass as her head whirled. "Sorry. But I am so jazzed right now! Look at what you did!"

"Yeah, I can see it," sighed Nikki, doubling over to put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "And I feel ready to fall on my face…"

"Then that probably means that was a bit excessive," said Puck with a grin. "Though, to be honest, I wasn't expecting you to make the tree _that _big. Just another foot or so. But seeing you go all out is totally something. This is really good, Nik! You could know a bunch of faeries on their asses if you felt like it and it wouldn't be anything!"

"You mean growing a tree is the hard part?" she asked sarcastically. "Joy. So, what's the easy part?"

Puck laughed again. "I think we'll save the easy part for tomorrow," he said, looping an arm around her waist to help her stand up. "You're about ready to fall over and I don't think Tri would be too happy if I brought you passed out to Spindle's. Not to mention Spindle would probably have a few not-so-lady-like things to say to me about making another patient for her when she's already working to keep Demon from going AWOL and making sure Cat gets enough sleep."

"I want to sleep now," grumbled Nikki, wrapping her arms around Puck's waist as he began to gently lead her through the woods, away from the enormous tree she'd conjured, back in the direction of Spindle's hut. "No one else better be in that extra bed, because I'll glamour their ass right onto the floor. It's mine."

Puck snickered. "I'd love to see that, beautiful," he said, and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sure if anyone has taken up residence in said resting area, they will happily vacate in to answer the greater cause of giving you a place to rest."

"Not if it's Tri," snorted Nikki, rolling her eyes. "She'll scoot over, sure, but she won't give up that bed for anything."

"Then I hope she's ready to make nice with the floor," said Puck with a devious grin. "Because that bed is totally, irrevocably yours …And mine."

"And yours?" Nikki raised an eyebrow at the faery, who was looking innocently back at her. "Why 'and yours'?"

"I'm tired, too," he pointed out, pouting at her. "I don't wanna sleep on the floor, Nikki."

"You are such a sad little man," she sighed, shaking her head in defeat. "Fine, I'll share the bed. But don't even think about doing anything weird."

"Weird, moi?" he asked, not quite managing to hide his smirk. "Never."

"Uh-huh." Nikki smirked back at him. "Just keep your hands where I can see them and we'll be fine."

"Ah, but how will you see them when you're asleep?" Puck asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. "Kind of a hard thing to do, seeing something when you're asleep, from what I understand. Unless you're Ash. He has four sets of eyeballs. One set on each side of his head."

"Pssh," Nikki scoffed. "Then I'll just have to chain your hands to the headboard to make sure you don't try anything while I'm asleep."

Puck looked down at her, and his face split into an enormous smirk.

"Kinky," he said. She glared at him, and he laughed.

"You're such a perv," she grumbled at him, shaking her head in dismay as he lifted her easily over the log they had hopped earlier.

"Ah, but I am _your _perv," he said, and when she glanced up at him he was smiling sincerely down at her, his emerald eyes glowing warmly, and she couldn't do anything but sigh.

"Yes," she agreed wearily, leaning into his chest. "You are. And I am actually perfectly fine with that."

Puck felt his heart swell slightly at her words, and he tightened his hold around her to keep her closer as they traveled through the starlit forest, ignoring the curious eyes that followed them through parts of the woods, though nothing approached or made a sound. But there was a slight whisper through the trees, stirring leaves on branches, as the dryads went about exchanging their news, their eyes wondrous and curious, as they gazed up in awe at the grand tree that had been brought into their midst, towering and silent. Keeping watch over the forest as the bright white moon meandered slowly through the sky.


	12. Chapter 12

Dreary and perpetually cold, just the way he'd remembered Tir Na Nog he thought idly, shaking out his long black fur with a slightly disgruntled cough. The snow was falling harder today than it had been, though when one was drawing closer to the heart of Winter territory it tended to become a little icier, a little cooler. And a great deal more perilous, not that any possible dangers presented were of much concern to him. He'd lived long enough a life and fought many a battle, and really had no real fears in the entire Nevernever. Only one thing had managed to give him reason even to pause, but that thing had long since been banished from his mind.

The Iron Kingdom was still fearsome, of course, but he no longer bothered himself about it as he might have several decades earlier in the time of the dreaded Iron King, when the entire existence of the Nevernever had been thrown into jeopardy and its continued life had been questioned. That had been quite an unpleasant time, even for him. Though he had not been in as much dire peril as the fey around him at the time, he had still been pestered and nagged any way possible by Mab as the Queen had sought any way she could to rally him into her forces to face the impending battle. He, of course, had taken no interest.

He might feel remorseful if the entirety of Faery was plunged into war and bloodshed, the ultimate result possibly being the end of fey altogether, save the overriding numbers of Iron Fey who would seize control following their victory, but he had not been terrified or even really concerned at the idea that he would be required to move homes. A bothersome thing, but he would rather relocate himself than be drawn into a senseless war just because the high and mighty Queen of Ice had decided to call on him. She had, of course, been livid when she herself had come to confront him about his loyalties and he had turned her down flat. But that was not his concern, and he had made a clear point in telling her so. She had no power over him and he refused to insert himself in her business, as she'd made it her duty to inform her every other century or so when he appeared in court that his meddling in her affairs was unwelcome and unnecessary.

The Queen had raged and stormed at him, though, questioning his loyalty to Faery, and asking what he intended to do if the Iron fey overran his lands, and he had easily replied that, as a cat, it was no troubling matter to take up residence in the yet uninhabited areas of the human world. After all, the last time he had cared to check, the Bermuda Triangle had still had excellent land up for grabs. Needless to say, the whole ordeal had taken much more of his time than he would otherwise liked it to have, and after thoroughly pissing off the queen he had taken his leave, deciding to hide out a few days to simply observe and think.

When the war had come, he had not been at all surprised to hear it, and though Mab had once again sought him out to plead his cooperation he had refused. He had no interest in a war that was already won, and she had—once again—taken it upon herself to waste her precious time and voice power to shriek and curse at him, calling him many names he was very much used to hearing until he was dreadfully bored of the whole thing and she finally stormed off very hoarse and positively seething with rage. Of course, he had known she had taken his words out of context, believing them to mean that he believed her and Oberon's temporary peace treaty and joining to go into battle would be for naught and they would lose to the Iron fey—and she had made a very big business about telling him so when the war was over, boasting at how he had been wrong.

Of course, he was never wrong, and he had reminded her that she had never asked which side he believed would emerge victorious. He had known from the moment Oberon's daughter—the half blood, Meghan Chase—had set foot into Faery, that nothing would be what the Fates might have first intended it to be. Though he had felt no need to go telling Mab such things as the Queen positively loathed Oberon and anything to do with him, especially his 'half breed whelp'. And once hearing him tell her from the start that he had known the Iron Fey would fall, and eventually give their loyalty to the half blood who would become their queen, Mab had gone into an absolute fury and screamed at him to get out of her sight. He had happily done so, returning to his private domain in the far corners of Tir Na Nog, far away from the wrathful and self-righteous monarch he was growing so tiresome of. She had not bothered him again.

Well, until now, that was. He sighed, his breath appearing in soft white clouds on the chilled air around him, as he began padding quietly through the snow, almost floating across the icy surface, leaving no tracks behind, as he turned his gleaming vermillion eyes towards the distant outline of the Unseelie Palace. For whatever reason, and he was dread to think of what it could be, Mab had called on him, and though he could so easily ignore her request—for she could not give him any orders—he knew eventually she would make her way out to his lands and track him down whether it took her a whole season. Rather than go traipsing around the countryside and through trods with her in pursuit of him, he had decided to lessen his burden and make the journey to her court instead, so he might swiftly get the issue out of the way. He suspected it had something to do with her son's coronation, though he had been sure to avoid the party to the best of his ability. He had no care for any of Mab's sons, though he did harbor a little respect, at least, for her youngest, exiled son, Prince Ash, now the Iron Prince. That boy, at least, had some decency about him, not to mention he had braved the perilous trek to the End of the World just to fulfill his oath to the Iron Queen, his love.

And anyone who could befriend Robin Goodfellow for countless decades with lopping his head off was definitely deserving of some kind of reverence. Even if the two had ended up rivals and sworn enemies for the better part of the past century, all thanks to the supposed death of a girl. He remembered the girl very clearly, having met her once, and though he had respected and admired her light and earnestness in the face of so many desolate and frozen souls that made up the court her father served, he had always known she would be the cause of some man's demise. It had only been a great misfortune that she had only managed to atone for her accidental sins through her final death. He would have wished her better than that, but all good things came to an end eventually and, from what he had heard, her end had been one she accepted without reservation.

Pausing in the snow, sensing eyes on him, he scanned the barren landscape surrounding him with narrowed eyes, twitching an ear as a particularly large snowflake descended upon it, beginning to melt into his fur.

"I hope Mab didn't give you the loathsome task of coming all the way out to welcome me," he said quietly, his eyes pinning the shadowy figure lurking just beneath the snow frosted branches of a cypress. "Though I am sure you are much more suited for this weather than your other brother, it is still quite a waste to be sent all this way just to escort me, Prince."

"Much as I agree with you, my Lord, my Queen bid me to come ensure your swift and safe travel to the Palace," said the figure, moving slowly into view, frosty emerald eyes glinting in what little light was given. His boots crunched on the snow, and his ebony hair held a generous dusting of snow, giving the impression he had been waiting for quite a while.

"How considerate of your mother, the Queen," sighed the traveler, flicking his ears once more to dispel yet more snow gathering there and giving Prince Sage a critical look. "It must be of grave importance to have her rushing to get me to Court. I had hoped it was only a trivial matter."

"I do not know," admitted Sage with a lame shrug of his shoulder, sending several white ice crystals falling from the navy coat he wore, which mimicked a popular human military style that had the traveler looking questioningly at the article of clothing. "All I know is that her majesty wishes an audience with you as soon as possible."

"As is her usual desire," sighed the traveler, shaking his head, both in dismay at Mab's mindlessness, and also at the questionable fashion that the Queen's eldest son currently sported.

He really never would understand those of the Winter Court. They, more than any fey in the Nevernever, detested humans, and yet they were also the most prone to human fashion statements. It was the most appalling hypocrisy he had ever seen, but, as he had heard it said, qué séra, séra. No matter how ridiculously contradicting the Unseelie Court became, he would simply have to pretend that the world was continuing to spin and never mind what the rest of the world happened to do with that continued revolution.

"Very well, Prince," he sighed at last, swaying his long tail lazily through the frigid air, "Guide me as you may. The sooner I arrive, the sooner I might leave. I am none too thrilled to have to entertain whatever madness she's decided to drag me into this time. I would have ignored her in preference of this, but she would have followed me to all five corners of Faery and I would have been even less tolerant by that point."

Sage's lips quirked in the smallest of smiles, clearly amused, though the traveler noticed that the humor did not quite reach the prince's frosty eyes. That was no surprise, really. All of those in the Winter Court were uptight and loathe to show any glimpse of anything that might make them even remotely prone to emotions, but what was interesting to him was the way Sage's face seemed tighter than usual. Not quite as though he had dropped weight—as such things were irrelevant to consider in the Nevernever—but he seemed tenser. And, though it seemed impossible for anyone in the Winter Court, particularly the royalty, to be even paler than usual, he noticed that was precisely what Sage was. Even the Prince's eyes held a kind of flatness to them that he was not used to witnessing.

All in all, the Prince seemed in less than excellent condition, though he seemed physically perfect and in top shape. The traveler gave the Prince another thoughtful once over that Sage was not ignorant to, and even arched a black brow at his companion's close scrutiny.

"Is something the matter, my Lord?" he asked softly.

The traveler's crimson eyes flashed over the young sidhe, then narrowed as his tail tip flicked back and forth.

"You are ill, young Prince," he said softly.

Sage smiled, a cold mimicry of its true counterpart. "I am fine, but I thank you for your concern, my Lord," he said in a low voice. "Shall we go on to the palace?"

The traveler gave a small snort and shook out his charcoal colored fur again before pacing silently past the fey Prince, aiming directly for the Unseelie Palace, still standing out like a grim specter in the distance, outline against the gray sky. Sage trailed quietly behind his companion, and neither of them spoke as they made their way through the white landscape, only occasionally heaving a deep breath, billowing out steam. The walk, in grand total, only took about ten minutes longer before they were passing between the immense gates of black thorns that guarded the courtyard. Dark trees loomed up, their jagged branches bare of leaves, though they were half painted in the fall of the white snow. Every now and then the weight of one branch became too much and snow slipped off as the branch creaked, dipping to lighten its load. Neither the Prince nor his companion paid any mind to it, and continued to the front gate, which loomed up ominously out the hazy surroundings to stand before them like a menacing guard. Two faces peered down at them, one eternally laughing, and the other in infinite sadness, as they sat at the top of the wooden doors.

Sage stepped ahead of his companion, reaching out to lay a hand against the smiling face's door, which swung open with a hysterical fit of giggles, then stepped back and bowed slightly to the traveler.

"After you, my Lord," said the Prince, gesturing that his companion should proceed him into the Palace.

Giving a small snort and swishing his black tail, the traveler moved forward into the dark interior of the palace, paying no mind to the reedy butler who stood just inside, bowing almost to the floor.

"Welcome, Lord Wrath," the fey greeted him in a high voice, his tone formal and carefully detached. "Lady Mab will be so pleased that you have managed to arrive safely."

Wrath gave a small 'hmm' of disinterest as Sage stepped in behind him, and the butler turned to give his greetings to the Prince as well, even stepping forward to remove Sage's coat and passing it off to a nearby phouka to take the sidhe's room later.

"The Queen is, at this moment," the butler said, addressing both Sage and Wrath, "In the process of sorting out affairs of state. But she has ordered me to lead you into a more comfortable area to await her, and offers her apologies for having you wait, and to thank you for the long trek from your lands."

"Hmph," said Wrath, swishing his tail.

The butler swallowed slightly, his eyes holding just the faintest glimmer of fright as he turned his back and marched away down the corridor, calling back to them,

"If you would follow me, my Lord."

Wrath proceeded slowly after the reedy little fey, Sage following just behind him, neither glancing left nor right as he passed fey, phouka and redcaps lingering out in the corridor, though they immediately scurried out of his way as he came nearer. Even a couple nobles that spotted him made hasty bows towards him as the butler led him and Sage quickly down numerous corridors, finally arriving at a set of towering double doors, similar to the gate, though instead of laughing and crying faces, these doors were adorned with ravens suspended, mid-flight, with glittering sapphire eyes that turned to stare down at the approach of the butler. The butler pulled a key from his breast pocket, his fingers fumbling over it and nearly dropping it as he glanced back to find Wrath's swirling vermillion eyes fixed on him, and jammed it into the lock. Both ravens let out mighty caws, and the doors swung inward to reveal a grand sitting room.

Luxurious couches and armchairs stood at attention, gathered around a roaring sapphire fire at the far end of the room. A polar bear fur was stretched out across the floor, its mouth gaping open, showing teeth, its blank eyes staring as Wrath and Sage stepped into the room and the butler bowed as he quickly excused himself with one last assurance that Mab would be with them post haste.

Sage heaved a sigh, looking particularly weary as he seated himself casually in one of the high backed armchairs closest to the fire, staring pensively into the sapphire flames as they danced in front of his vivid emerald gaze. Wrath contemplated the nearby couch for a long moment before alighting onto it and curled himself up. Being the size he was, he took up the entire three cushions, and he draped his tail off the edge as he laid his head on his paws, watching the Prince thoughtfully.

"I apologize for my mother's thoughtlessness, my Lord," the Prince murmured after a long moment, letting his eyes fall closed as he settled back against the chair. "I do not know the reason she has called you out here. We are not about to take up arms or anything of that kind, so I can only imagine it is something trifling, though she insisted it was of the utmost importance."

"Mab has always had a flair for the dramatic," Wrath said. "She calls on me for the simplest of matters. I am used to it. I am only sorry she made you an accessory to this pettiness."

Sage smiled wanly. "As you said yourself, I am used to it. I must answer my Queen's desires regardless of what they may be."

"And yet you have not always taken it upon yourself to take such action to appease her," observed Wrath with a small swish of his black tail. "Do not think I am so old as to have easily forgotten that year's Elysium when you decided you would sooner disappear into the wyldwood and take sanctuary in your Lodge than give your mother and Queen the pleasure of flaunting you in Arcadia."

Sage gave a wry chuckle, also recalling. "Yes, that was quite the year," he remembered vaguely. "She was quite upset with me afterwards."

"And you did not care a shred," snorted Wrath, narrowing his vermillion eyes at the Prince. "As I remember also, you vanished again after your quarrel with her and she quickly learned afterwards to leave you in peace. Consider yourself lucky, Prince. If not for that Lodge of yours, you would probably have become as bitter and resentful as your younger brothers. They did not have such an easy escape as you did."

"I am aware," murmured Sage, now frowning as he opened his frosty eyes to gaze unseeingly into the fireplace again. "Though I am glad, at least, that Ash managed to make his getaway sooner rather than later. I might pity Rowan more, but he could easily have changed who he has become. Sometimes I feel he took after mother perhaps a bit too immensely. He has his father's looks, but Mab's sadistic enjoyment in belittling others."

"Indeed," sighed Wrath, turning his gaze onto the dancing blue flames as well, a small frown on his face. "I know the Queen was not very pleased with me for neglecting to attend his recent coronation in renewing his oaths of knighthood. I am only surprised she has not yet held yours, as they took place much farther back than Rowan's."

"She knows I would not tolerate such a thing," said Sage, shaking his head, "The last time she made me take my vows I assured her it would be the last time. She does not need a reminder that I serve only her. The oaths are eternally binding; she only has her knights repeat them for the pleasure of seeing them on their knees in front of her, swearing their loyalty like obedient mongrels."

Wrath purred with dark amusement. "And you are no such mongrel to be led idly by his leash without taking a few decent snaps at your handler," he said, eyeing the Prince appreciatively. "That is why I have always respected you at least in some respects, Prince."

Sage gave a rueful smile. "You do not care for my family or myself," he said. "I know that much about you, Lord Wrath. You may not wish our deaths, but you feel no source of loyalty or interest in us, either."

"Clever child," purred Wrath, his vermillion eyes gleaming. "The Unseelie Court and its rulers have always been questionable to me, especially in these times. However, I do not wish you ill. Not even your witch mother."

"I hope you would not bear us ill will, Lord Wrath," said Sage softly. "You are one of the very few fey in this realm that frighten my mother, truly and earnestly. Even I am not so foolish and convinced of my power to even contemplate testing your patience. I cannot say the same for Rowan. He is convinced that you are merely a bogeyman of sorts. A fairytale conjured for the indulgence of the other courtiers."

"That is unfortunate," said Wrath quietly, flicking his tail slowly back and forth. "Perhaps I will pay a brief visit to your kin when your mother and I have finished our business here, whatever the wretched woman decides to make it about."

Sage smiled a dark smile at the fireplace. "I only ask you do not frighten him too terribly, my Lord," the Prince murmured. "I tired of watching him as an infant when the phouka would play tricks on him, listening to him wail at night, I do not wish for a repeat of the events when he is now old enough to care for himself."

"Of course," said Wrath with a rather menacing purr. "I will only ensure he does not soon forget that even nightmares can come to life."

Sage chuckled humorlessly, then fell silent again, gazing absently into the flames, and Wrath turned his glinting eyes back onto the sidhe Prince, taking note of every detail in the young royal's face.

In this light, it was easier to see the hollowness of the fey's cheeks, though all Winter sidhes were graced with narrow faces and slender frames. Even more obvious it was for Wrath to take note of the Prince's slightly hunched posture, though probably no one else would have even considered the difference. Sage may be weary, but weakness and a show of emotion in the Unseelie Court were as good as a death sentence, and the eldest prince was no fool to let himself show visible signs of ill effects either on his body or his mind. Still, you couldn't hide everything when your very nature dictated that you did not lie.

"So, little Prince," said Wrath softly, his eyes resting thoughtfully on the sidhe's face. "Just what is it that has you so careworn? I don't believe I've seen you look so despondent since the time you were sworn in as Mab's right hand."

Sage glanced sideways at Wrath, his expression carefully neutral, though Wrath could just make out the flicker of unease the crossed the Prince's eyes before he managed to compose himself. Again, no one else but he would have noticed it, and he wondered to himself just how much Mab had even managed to notice in her eldest son's behavior and appearance. Surely, this had no merely happened overnight, but at least the Queen should have been clever enough—at least attentive enough—to pay notice to her eldest son and heir if he was slowly falling into some kind of illness. It was not a common practice for fey to become ill, as very few things managed to wound them aside from their own weapons and the poisonous touch of iron, and since Wrath did not think it highly probably that the eldest Winter Prince had come into contact either with Iron or been attacked in the past time that he had been weakening, it left him pondering just what could have led the Prince to his current condition. It may be barely noticeable, but it was still there.

Sage was considering Wrath now, his eyes wary as he regarded the great Lord, and after a long moment he heaved a sigh and turned his face away, frowning at the hearth.

"You are the first to have taken notice, my Lord," he said quietly, "Though I shouldn't be surprised. You always were much more astute than any fey I have ever encountered. I suppose it was makes you so formidable to both Summer and Winter courts."

Wrath did not reply, and simply waited for the Prince to answer him, as he knew he would eventually. It was never wise to refuse to give Wrath what he requested, and Sage was not foolish enough to be the one to refuse.

"I hope you will not repeat this to the Queen," he murmured softly, letting his eyes fall closed, "As, truthfully, it is nothing I cannot handle on my own. Or anything that is really her business."

"Your ailments are safe with me, Prince," purred Wrath.

Sage gave a small scoff, then, after long moment of silence in which he contemplated how best to phrase his words, and Wrath waited in patient silence, his eyes seeing everything as he observed the sidhe Prince.

"It should be easier to explain than it is," Sage murmured at last, lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And in some ways I don't entirely understand what has happened to me…I only know that I am weaker, wearier at the end of the day, regardless of what has come to pass if anything comes at all. I tire more easily and more prone to impatience when in court. More than once in these past couple of days I have nearly snapped at either Rowan or Mab before I manage to remember myself. Even Bane has become a target of my impatience if he appears, though he has spent many decades at my side without ever giving me reason for ire."

Wrath blinked his crimson eyes very slowly, pondering in silence just what the Prince's words could mean. He believed Sage when the boy told him he hadn't quite the idea what it was that could be causing such strange changes in his behavior, but he also believed that the Prince knew of a possible event that could have altered it, just not considering that it could have been that ordeal—whatever it was—to be the main cause to the effect. Wrath may know many things about the Prince, but he couldn't imagine for himself just what could have shifted Sage's behaviors like this, and he didn't particularly feel like pressing the issue further with the Prince. It was quite obvious to him that Sage was already disturbed enough as it was with his change, and though Wrath was quite curious on the matter, he wasn't one to delve deeper into things that were better left untouched upon.

For that reason, he blinked his eyes once more, and nodded slowly to the Prince.

"I can only advise you to watch yourself, Prince," he murmured. "Though I believe I am the only one at this point in time to have taken notice of your behavior, if you are not careful there are those inside of these walls who would use your weakness against you and crumble your control right out of your hands. Especially the Queen. Mother she may be to you, but only in name. I have seen the way she pits you against your brothers, and while Rowan may be content to be her obedient little puppet, I fear what would happen to you if you ever made the misstep that allowed her to seize hold of your reigns."

Sage opened his eyes to fix his bright green eyes on Wrath, who gazed steadily back, holding the Prince's stare for a few long moments in silence before the sidhe nodded his head and looked away.

"Thank you for your council, Lord Wrath," he murmured quietly, lacing his hands together in his lap as he gazed vaguely into the flames of the sapphire blaze. "I will remember what you have said to me."

Wrath dipped his head, and they fell into silence again, though their meditation was soon interrupted as the rapid approach of high heeled feet drew Wrath's ear around to pin the door and his vermillion eyes closed as a sense of impending weariness came over him.

"Her majesty arrives," he murmured in a bored voice, and Sage's lips quirked in a small smirk though the prince's eyes had since closed and he did not look up as the ravens on the doors outside cawed loudly and his mother, the Queen of Winter, Lady Mab, came striding purposely into the room.

Wrath casually swiveled his head around to gaze at the imperious figure of Tir Na Nog's monarch as she walked right up to him, dropping a curtsy that did not quite seem the appropriate formal greeting given her attire. As Wrath had observed earlier when scrutinizing Sage's human-like garb, Mab was no different than her son as she stood before him, adorned in a horridly gaudy crimson pantsuit and sleek black pumps that added a good four inches to her already impressive height.

Her normally long ebony hair was pulled back in a tight, elegant knot at the nape of her neck, and she had a pair of onyx chopsticks stuck into it with miniature silver dragons painted upon them. Matching earrings dangled from her fey ears, catching the firelight and sparkling almost annoyingly bright in Wrath's eyes so he was forced to blink rapidly just to keep his sight.

"Lord Wrath," said Mab, flashing a bright smile at him that was more reminiscent of a redcap's leer than a Queen's graceful show of pearly whites. "I am so glad you could come out all this way to meet with me. It truly is an honor."

"I was merely saving myself the hassle of letting you pursue me all over the countryside, Lady Mab," said Wrath, pushing himself up into a sitting position and flicking his tail tip, regarding the Queen with a remote crimson gaze. "Since the last time I came to Tir Na Nog you made certain to tell me never to return, I suspected this must be of some importance if you were disregarding the previous request you had given me."

Mab's black eyes flickered for a moment, revealing a show of unease as Wrath loomed over her, but she quickly smoothed herself out and offered another appeasing smile.

"I meant no disrespect, my Lord," she said in a syrupy voice that grated on Wrath's nerves. "I was not as in control of myself as I should have been during our last encounter, and I hope you can forgive my moment of ignorance."

"Of course, Lady," said Wrath in his low voice. "Though, getting past useless mistakes that cannot be undone, I would rather be interested in hearing just what it is you have requested me to come here for. I have heard from Prince Sage that you are not preparing to take up arms and go to war either against Iron or Summer, so I am curious to see just what her majesty would have with me."

Mab glanced over her shoulder at Sage, who was still sitting quietly in the armchair, eyes closed, looking to be slumbering peacefully, though she no fool to think he was really arrogant enough to ignore her. And he would most definitely not risk a nap in the present of Wrath.

"Sage, darling," she chimed at her eldest son, who slowly opened his emerald eyes to glance sideways at his mother and Queen, who gave him a rather vicious smile. "Would you mind going to fetch your dear brother? I feel Rowan should be here to give his greetings to Lord Wrath, and I would also like a moment with his Lordship to discuss the matters at hand."

Sage rose to his feet without a word, bowing to Mab and inclining his head to Wrath before sweeping silently out of the room to go search for his younger brother. The moment he was gone, Mab turned back to Wrath, her face still graced with that leering smile.

"My Lord," she said in a simpering voice that Wrath had to work not to cringe at, "I am not sure how much you have heard as of late, but just a moon ago, my son, Rowan, encountered a slight…problem, very near to the Palace at a trod that leads straight into the human world."

"Oh?" Wrath blinked once. "And just what was this problem? I admit, I have not heard any such news, though I do not often make a habit of listening to idle gossip."

Mab's eyes flickered again, this time in barely disguised annoyance. Had anyone else said that they had not heard any news about what had happened between Rowan and that little half breed that had managed to sneak into the kingdom they would have been clueless at best. The rumor that a mere half human whelp had managed to escape from Tir Na Nog undetected was becoming the biggest thread of gossip this side of Faery. Wrath could very easily have heard the news of what had happened, but by saying he had not heard it only meant that he had not considered enough of a bother to pay attention.

"Well, my Lord," she pressed on, still in that irritatingly simpering voice, "There was a bit of a security breach, for want of better words. Rowan managed to bring the intruder to the Palace and imprison her, but she somehow managed to escape a few weeks ago, and though my knights have been scouring every trod and the surrounding land, we have not managed to find her, which is becoming a great pain to me."

Wrath gave Mab a bored look and sighed.

"Lady Mab," he said, "Are you suggesting that _I _go look for this intruder?"

"No, of course not, my Lord," Mab said, looking aghast. "Merely, I was hoping that perhaps you might have heard some news off in your domain about a half breed wandering around lost in the wyldwood."

"I cannot say that I have, Lady," Wrath said idly. "And I assure you, news of a lost half blood would easily have caught my attention. Has it not crossed your majesty's mind that perhaps the girl, whoever she is, has departed through another trod back into the human world? Or even possibly crossed into Summer territory, where neither you nor your knights are able to travel?"

"It has," said Mab a little stiffly, losing her simpering air, though still with that fake smile straining on her face. Her black eyes were like flint stones, though she did not dare lose her temper in front of Wrath. She had done that once and it had been one of the greatest embarrassments of her long life, second only to having to acknowledge Oberon's half breed whelp as a faery Queen and thank the wench for her help in winning a war.

"Then I would suggest, Lady Mab," Wrath said, now setting his front paws on the floor to lower himself from the couch and arching his back in a lazy stretch, "That you call of the search for this half blood. If you are going to such great lengths to find her, it stands to reason that she has already caught wind of it and has headed for Oberon's territory for protection where you cannot reach her. It is also just as likely she has grown tired of being here and has returned to her human world and will forget the incident in a matter of weeks if she has not already forgotten."

"That girl would never forget this," sniffed Mab, clearly furious, though she dared not direct her ire at Wrath.

"Oh? And you are so certain of this?" Wrath asked, pausing on his way to the doors and looking back inquiringly at the Queen. "She is half human, after all. They do not remember us for very long, if at all."

Mab hesitated. She hadn't wanted this to come up in the conversation with Wrath. The real reason she had called on him to possibly seek out the girl, but there was no avoiding it now that he had brought it up, no matter how inadvertently.

"Well, my Lord, it is…" She hesitated, frowning at the massive Cait Sith as he settled himself before her, his crimson eyes impassive as he curled his tail around his paws. "It is merely that the girl's fey heritage has me concerned, and hoping that if anyone would have a chance of finding her or knowing where she might be, it is you."

"Oh?" Wrath twitched his tail slightly. "And just what gives you cause for concern, Lady?"

Mab hesitated again, then swallowed her wits and, gazing straight into Wrath's blood red eyes declared, "She is half Cait Sith, my Lord."

An eerie silence spread across the room, and Wrath's eyes narrowed to mere slits of crimson as he stared back at Mab, who was now holding her breath, waiting to see how the King of Cait Sith would react to this news. She was fortunate that lies were not part of her genetics. Otherwise the cat may very well have slit her throat for daring to spout such lies. After all, she knew better than anyone how outrageous it was to think that a Cait Sith would take up with a human, even one time, and even more so to produce a child out of the encounter. But Wrath did not go for her throat, and instead sat quietly in front of her, looking exceptionally deep in thought as he gazed stoically at her.

"You are certain of this?" he asked at last, his voice deathly quiet.

"Yes, my Lord," she said, a little breathlessly. "I am certain. I saw it for myself, and Rowan as well. She was also accompanied by a Cait Sith. A black cat with yellow-green eyes."

Wrath did not respond for a long time, merely gazing emotionlessly at the Winter Queen, who gazed right back, waiting for him to speak again, but he did not, and instead sat in silence, until the clacking of a pair of approaching footsteps had him cocking an ear back, though his eyes did not waver from Mab's face.

"Here is Rowan, my Queen," Sage announced as he reentered the room, his younger brother trailing behind him.

"Ah, Rowan, my dear boy," said Mab, extending her hand for her second youngest son, who came dutifully to her side, a small smile on his face, his ice blue eyes glittering with pleasure as he took up her hand and pressed a kiss to it.

"You sent for me, my Queen?" he asked, straightening and cocking his head at his mother and queen with a curious expression.

"Give your greetings to Lord Wrath," Mab said, gesturing towards the King as he sat in prolonged silence, still watching her attentively.

Rowan turned, having completely missed the massive shadow of a cat sitting before Mab, and took several startled steps backwards as he met the blood red stare at the Cait Sith. His hand dropped to the hilt of his sword in reflex, but Sage caught his brother's arm forcefully, keeping him from pulling the blade, and gave his sibling a warning look before pushing him back towards Wrath, who gave no indication that he had noticed anything unusual in the boy's behavior.

"My Lord," Rowan said, bowing, though not quite as low as he was attempting to keep a watchful eye on the great feline. "It is…an honor to meet you."

"Hmm," said Wrath uninterestedly, his eyes passing carelessly over Rowan's pale face without much real acknowledgment.

Rowan glanced uncertainly at his mother, who motioned him away with a simple wave of her hand, and he went to stand by Sage, who was gazing pensively into the fire, completely uninterested in what was transpiring between his mother and Wrath.

"So, my Lord," Mab said, addressing Wrath again. "Is it possible that you would be willing to help in my search for this escaped criminal?"

"Criminal?" Rowan spoke up quietly. "My Queen, you cannot mean that half breed wench."

"Be quiet, Rowan," snapped Mab. "This is a matter between myself and Lord Wrath."

Rowan narrowed his blue eyes at being so easily dismissed, but said nothing.

"There is no matter here, Lady Mab," said Wrath softly, his gaze eerily dark as he settled it on Mab. "The girl, whoever she is, is long gone from these lands, or you would have found her by now. I will not waste my time searching out half bloods to suit your fancy when I can better serve it among other issues of my own. If you still care to search for the girl, that is your business, and I shall leave it to you to exhaust your ranks of soldiers looking for her. This is a poor excuse for a venture and I am sadly disappointed that of all the things you could have called upon me for, this was your chosen endeavor. I will take my leave now, Lady, and bid good day to you."

The Cait Sith rose to his paws, turning in silence and sweeping out of the room without a backwards glance, leaving Mab alone with her two sons, feeling rather like she had just been viciously backhanded. Her face burned with humiliation as she watched the tip of Wrath's black tail slip out of sight, and she couldn't look at either Rowan or Sage as they stared at her. Or, Rowan stared. Sage was still pretending not to notice a thing as he gazed straight into the sapphire flames.

This wasn't how she had planned for things to go at all…even if Wrath had outright refused to help her search for the girl, she had never expected such a stinging retort on his part. He may not have seemed it, but that was Wrath on the verge of losing his patience. That was Wrath rebuking her, shaming her publically, and she felt utterly humiliated as she stared into the now vacant corridor leading out of the room, realizing just how poorly she had handled the situation. Somehow, she had insulted the Cait Sith King, and that was the very last thing one wanted to do, regardless of their standing. Not many could hope to match up to the King in either age or wisdom, as he was the oldest in all of Faery—at least the oldest to still live—and knew many, many things. He could devastate his enemies in either physical prowess or wits, and none of his enemies made a habit of living long. Even if Mab had not placed herself directly on Wrath's list of enemies, she would be a fool to press his patience further. It had been foolish to call him here in the first place, thinking he would grant her the favor of looking for the half breed, but she knew no one else to turn to. No other Cait Siths answered her calls, and even if they did no Cait Sith had a hope of locating the girl like Wrath could.

But now she'd insulted him, and she was just as hopelessly turned around as when she had sent out messengers for him in the first place. It was almost as though she had not even called for his aid in the first place for all the progress she had made.

"Mother," murmured Rowan then, his voice soft, imploring, and he dropped a hand on her arm. "We do not need Lord Wrath to search for the girl. I can easily find her given the proper amount of time and return with her for the punishment she rightly deserves."

"No," sighed Mab, shaking her head. "We will do away with this foolishness. Lord Wrath is correct. The knights have been looking high and low for the wench and she nowhere to be found. No, Rowan, we will not waste our time on her any longer. Either she has retreated to her wretched human world where she belongs or has taken refuge in the Summer lands and we cannot hope to venture there without incurring Oberon's wrath, and I am loathe to start a war over something as trivial as a half breed bitch."

She brushed off her younger son's hand and swept from the room, her back rigid and her head held high, the icy coldness back in her black eyes as she strode from the room, leaving her sons with each other with Rowan scowling after his mother, clearly infuriated, and Sage gazing sideways out of the corner of his eyes at his younger sibling with a look akin to resignation.

"Let it go, brother," he said when Rowan gave a low oath. "You know she will not change her mind, and you have better things to be doing than chasing a half breed around. You are unlikely to even remember her name by the end of the week."

"She humiliated us," snarled Rowan, throwing himself down on the couch and glaring across at his elder brother, his icy blue eyes burning with fury. "She made us look like fools, Sage! And you would ask me to kindly let that slip my mind?"

"I am not asking you to kindly do anything," sighed Sage, turning with a weary gaze to his sibling. "Especially since 'kind' is nothing you know well. I am merely telling you that it is foolish to continue looking for the girl in the hopes of either finding her or bringing her to justice. The longer you dwell on how foolish she made you look, the more foolish you will become."

Rowan sneered, his expression purely malevolent as he gaze Sage a slow up and down look.

"Is that what you think, Sage, dear brother?" he asked snidely, rising to his feet slowly and taking a step forward to bring himself toe to toe with his elder sibling. "That I'll be a fool to keep looking for the bitch that put such shame to me and mother? Would you really stand by and let such a whelp get away with insulting your queen?"

"I would," Sage said calmly, not backing down in spite of his brother's menacing glare, "If my Queen has ordered me to forget it. Which, in case you didn't really notice, she did."

"I think you're hiding something," murmured Rowan, narrowing his ice blue eyes, a dark smile curling his lip. "There's another reason you don't want us looking for the girl, isn't there, Sage, brother dear?"

Sage arched a black eyebrow inquiringly at his brother.

"What are you trying to say, Rowan?" he asked with a tired sigh. "I grow tired of this roundabout banter of yours."

"You're protecting that girl is what I'm saying, Sage," hissed Rowan, and abruptly shoved his brother so forcefully Sage nearly staggered back to put his foot right in the hearth but caught himself a mere step away from the flames and steadied himself, narrowing his frosty green eyes at Rowan as the younger prince glared at him. "I know you are! You think no one noticed you sneaking around like a fool in the castle, barely drawing attention to yourself, having the servants secretly sending food up to you at all hours of the day, even when you weren't in the palace! Even if mother turns a blind eye because you happen to be the eldest, I'm not so stupid!"

"You aren't, hm?" Sage murmured, standing calmly by the fire as his brother seethed with rage, blue eyes fairly blazing with malevolence. "Then what proof do you have, aside from your imagined clues, that I am protecting the girl?"

"You cannot tell me you didn't hide her here, brother," spat Rowan. "You think I didn't try getting into your room, only to be stopped by a knight or a servant who so conveniently happened to be wandering by? You were hiding her there! Protecting her!"

"You go too far, Rowan," said Sage, his tone low, dangerous, his eyes glinting in the light of the fire. "I would advise you to remember yourself before I lose my temper."

"Tell me then, brother," Rowan hissed, his face splitting into that malicious sneer, "Tell me honestly that you are not protecting the girl! That you did not bring her here! That you did not hide her from me and mother!"

Sage stared straight into Rowan's ice blue eyes, which glared back at him with a burning intensity that would have made a lesser sidhe cower in fear, but Sage did not waver, and stood his ground.

"I did not protect her," Sage murmured quietly. "I did not hide her."

Rowan glared at his brother, furious, and tried to find a flicker in Sage's eyes, something to give him away, but there was nothing. Only calm resolve. Hissing furiously, Rowan turned on his heel, kicking angrily at the couch as he went, knocking a wooden leg clean from under it so it dropped forward with a loud thud, and stomped furiously from the room, leaving Sage alone gazing after his younger kin with a drawn expression.

After he lost sight of Rowan at the end of the corridor, and the sounds of his brother's angry footsteps faded into silence, he heaved a deep sigh and slumped down into the arm chair, which had at least survived what could have been a much meaner temper tantrum, and put a hand to his eyes, kneading his temple slowly. His other arm dangled lamely over the arm of the chair, and his long legs stretched out in front of him towards the fire while he sat there, meditating in the merciful silence.

He should have known, he thought to himself, almost bitterly. Of course Rowan would have been suspicious of him protecting that wretched girl, regardless of the precautions Sage had taken to ensure she was not found. What he had told Rowan was not a lie. He had not been protecting the girl, so to speak. He had been fulfilling a favor to the Cait Sith that protected her. And he had not been hiding her. He had been granting her safe haven in the castle, merely asking the servants and his loyal guard to divert any who might think of coming too close to discovering the truth. He had been alive many centuries, not quite as many as his mother, but enough to have learned the delicate trickery of dancing about the truth.

Still, the fact that Rowan had been suspicious enough of him to go about trying to get into his room was just too close for comfort. For now, he may have managed to convince his brother that he had nothing to do with the girl's disappearance and hiding, but he wasn't altogether certain that Rowan would come across something else to get him in a stir and returning for yet more interrogations that Sage may not be able to avert the next time they happened. Even if no one knew where his Lodge was, it would be only too easy for the Winter Dryads to have spotted either him or Bane bringing the girl across and back to the border and go running off to inform Mab just in the hopes of gaining favor with the Ice Queen, though he secretly hoped any who might consider it would also take the time to consider just how Mab might be furious enough at the revelation to freeze them into an eternal ice statue.

Whatever the case, he now knew he had put himself perilously close to discovery, and if Rowan decided to bring the issue up with Mab—who knew just the right questions to ask—things could turn very ugly very quickly. But Sage doubted his brother would go so far as to drag their queen into the matter. She had already told them not to bother with the girl, and she would not take kindly to being reminded why she had been insulted by Wrath in the first place, even if Rowan _was _her favorite child. No…he shouldn't worry about Mab getting involved…merely keeping an eye on Rowan to ensure he didn't go poking around in the wrong places.

"My Prince…"

Bane's low voice broke in on his thoughts, and a slightly damp nudge against his dangling palm alerted him that the familiar was beside him.

"What is it Bane?" Sage asked softly without opening his eyes or turning his head, but reaching out a hand to fist it lightly in Bane's gray fur.

"Lord Wrath has departed from the palace," Bane informed, "But has requested that you meet him in the courtyards very briefly before he takes his leave back to the Briars."

Sage sighed heavily, wondering what Wrath could possibly want with him now. Nothing good, he could imagine. Whatever the reason, he felt that the King Cait Sith was not quite satisfied with the answer he had earlier given regarding his unusual mood change and was hoping to further discuss it with him. Pushing himself reluctantly out of his seat, Sage turned to Bane, who sat patiently beside the arm chair, his amber eyes glowing in the light thrown from the fire, his expression thoughtful as he scrutinized his prince.

"Are you alright, my Prince?" the familiar asked softly, cocking his head as Sage took a moment to draw a hand across his tired eyes.

"Fine," murmured Sage quietly, taking a step forward to leave the room, "Just a little unsettled. Rowan confronted me before you arrived."

Bane's eyes narrowed slightly as he rose to follow his Prince from the room, trailing behind the sidhe like a silent gray shadow as they walked quietly through the corridors.

"I hope it was nothing too troubling for you, my Prince," Bane murmured as they went.

"No, not particularly," Sage said, slowing to let Bane take the lead, as the familiar knew where Wrath waited. "Merely inquiring about the girl."

Bane cast a look over his broad shoulder, his amber eyes flashing in alarm, but Sage smiled wanly and patted the familiar's back to reassure him.

"As I said, it was nothing too troublesome," he murmured. "Now, please take to Lord Wrath quickly. I am sure he wants to leave as soon as he is able after speaking with me and I would like to retire to my room soon."

"Of course, my Prince." Bane dipped his head obediently and quickened his pace so Sage was taking longer strides to keep up, but they reached the front gates and the courtyard much more rapidly as a result.

Wrath waited outside in the snow, a striking contrast to the white snow with his jet black pelt and glowing crimson eyes as he turned them slowly on Sage as Bane trotted up to the cat, who easily outsized the already quite large wolf.

"I brought him as you requested, Lord Wrath," Bane murmured, bowing his head respectfully to the Cait Sith, who flicked his tail once in acknowledgement, eyes locked on Sage.

"Prince," he murmured, his voice a low purr, "I ask that you walk with me a while on my way out. I have something of importance to discuss with you."

Sage was mildly surprised. He would have thought whatever the conversation might be that Wrath would be able to question and lecture him more easily in one place.

"My Lord, can this not be done here?" Sage asked softly.

"I do not want my business to become the entire Unseelie Court's business," Wrath said, rising to his paws and shaking out his fur, which had become rather dusted with white snow. "Walk with me, boy."

And he turned and began to move in his silent way out of the courtyard, leaving Sage to follow. Bane settled himself in the snow to wait, knowing he was not wanted to accompany the two, and deciding to wait loyally for his prince's return.

Sage moved to stride alongside Wrath, who did not speak until they had passed through the great black thorn gates and out into the open land surrounding the palace, ensuring they were no longer within earshot of the palace and its occupants, or any that might follow them for long. After several more minutes of walking in silence, the quiet only broken by the occasional crunch of snow under Sage's boots, Wrath heaved a sigh and glanced up at the sidhe Prince.

"You were protecting the girl, weren't you, Prince?" he asked softly.

Sage turned to stare at the Cait Sith, who watched him calmly, as though he had anticipated the look of amazement that flickered briefly through the icy eyes of the Prince.

"I know Rowan asked you a similar question and you wound the lame truth around him like a rope so he tripped over himself, but I am asking you for the straight truth," he murmured in his low voice, keeping a steady pace, never removing his eyes from Sage's face. "I could sense it when Mab was questioning me, and you had returned with your brother. Your heart stopped a moment at the mention of the girl."

Sage narrowed his eyes at the cat, who did not look at all bothered by the guarded look he was receiving from the Prince.

"What do you want of me, Lord Wrath?" Sage asked quietly.

"The truth, little Prince, as I have already said," Wrath replied calmly. "Nothing more. Really, if I had wanted to get you into hot water with Mab or Rowan, don't you think I might have not waited to ask the question directly until we were outside the grounds? I have no interest in getting you strung up by your ankles and tortured for whatever insubordination Mab would consider this. I merely wish to inquire as to the 'why' of the matter. Why protect her? Why hide her? She is a mere half blood. What concern could you have for her?"

"None," said Sage curtly.

"Then why?" prompted Wrath, finally slowing to a stop and turning to face Sage with narrowed crimson eyes. "You of the Unseelie do not merely do favors for others out of the goodness of your ice encrusted hearts, not even you, who may just have the boldest heart in all the Winter Court, so what was offered to you in exchange?"

Sage stared down into Wrath's glowing eyes, really wishing he had just retired to his room to begin with before Bane could have found him, but knowing that that was in the past and he could not turn back time. He must give his answer.

"A favor," he said quietly, simply.

"A favor," repeated Wrath softly, his eyes narrowing to mere slits of blood-red color. "And what did this girl give you as your favor?"

"Not the girl," said Sage. "The Cait Sith guiding her. She was unconscious when I found her, so the favors were left to him. I only asked one thing of her for keeping her in seclusion in the Palace."

"And what did you ask of her?" Wrath murmured.

Sage narrowed his eyes now, confused. He would have suspected Wrath would take more an interest in the favors owed by his own subordinate rather than a half breed with very loose ties back to his people, but then again who was he to guess what Wrath would or would not find interest? The cat had survived many years, many endless centuries, having been there since nearly the beginning of time…no one could guess his state of mind, least of all Sage.

"I merely made her swear to me that she would not set foot in Winter again after she had left," Sage replied at last. "That was all."

Wrath still had his eyes narrowed. "What, specifically, Sage of the Unseelie Court, word for word, did you ask of the girl?" he asked quietly. "Answer me that, son of Mab."

Sage blinked once, gazing down silently at the Cait Sith King, who did not blink back, but stared into the sidhe Prince's eyes…practically into his very core.

"I asked her," he murmured at last, "That I would never lay eyes on her in Winter again after she left the Palace. Those are the very words I said to her."

"And did you ever see her again after that?" Wrath inquired lightly.

Sage hesitated to answer the question, but as Wrath's eerie vermillion eyes continued to pierce him like daggers, he took a deep breath and sighed.

"I did," he admitted with a short nod.

"And what did you do, Prince?" Wrath inquired.

"She was not on Winter lands," Sage said.

"That was not my question," murmured Wrath very softly, almost whispering. "My question was what you did to her, Prince."

Sage let his eyes fall closed for a moment, letting himself take another lungful of cool air, then breathing it out in a long, steaming cloud.

"She was ill," he murmured, "So I temporarily voided the oath to see to her care. I brought her to my Lodge and nursed her there for the night. The next morning she was gone, as we had agreed she would be, and her oath was reinstated the moment Bane led her back across to Summer territory."

"And her favor to you?" Wrath prompted. "You cannot tell me you did not request yet another favor for your remarkable deed, Prince. Even if she had lain near death, you would have requested repayment for your actions after she had recovered."

Sage kept his eyes closed, though a frown touched his mouth now. These questions were senseless. What did Wrath care about a half breed wench of a girl? What did it matter, he thought idly? If Wrath wanted answers, he should give them.

"I requested the answer to a simple question," he replied to the Cait Sith, who was still regarding him with almost deadly crimson eyes. "That was all."

"And the question?"

Sage opened his eyes to look at Wrath again. "I wanted to know her true feelings for me," he said, shrugging his shoulders uncaringly.

He thought he saw a flicker of emotion run through Wrath's eyes, though before he could confirm that he had seen such a thing, or even what the emotion would have been the flash was gone and Wrath was gazing stoically up at him as he asked,

"And her answer?"

"She is in love with me," said Sage.

A silence settled between them, one of the coldest Sage believed he had ever encountered outside of the scant few he had endured with his mother, and he felt an involuntary chill steel down his back as he stared into Wrath's eyes, which were void of all emotion as the great black feline gazed silently into Sage's face. The snow drifted around them, white and soundless, building up in small drifts nearby and coating their shoulders and heads as the two fey continued to gaze unblinkingly into each other's eyes. Then, when Sage thought he may just have to be the one to break that silence before the tension around them snapped, Wrath blinked slowly and rose to his feet.

"Go back to your kingdom, little Prince," he murmured, turning away from Sage, shaking out his fur to clear it off the bothersome snow that had covered him in his time spent immobile. "I have asked all I care to. And remember what I have advised you: watch yourself in the court. There are those that wish you ill, some much closer than you think, and they will be the death of you if you do not look out for them."

And, not five paces away from Sage, the Cait Sith disappeared. Vanishing as though he had never been, not even leaving paw prints as a testament to his existence, and Sage was left alone, standing in the gathering snow, feeling that warning chill from before slide down his back again before he managed to turn his eyes back to the outline of the castle in the distance and take the first step through the white terrain back towards it. He didn't look back to where Wrath had disappeared, but could not shake the image of the great cat's searing eyes from his mind, not even when he had returned through the front gates, collecting Bane as he entered the castle, and stealing away to his room before anyone could hope to spot him. Even when had shed his outer clothing and kicked off his boots before lying down among the pillows and throws covering the bed, stretching out on his side with an arm over his face, those eyes haunted him. Only when he had finally fallen asleep after nearly an hour of lying there, listening to the muted sounds of the servants and knights bustling about the castle, did Sage finally escape those burning eyes as he delved deeply into the welcoming grip of black sleep, and did not resurface.


	13. Chapter 13

Morning…morning was bright, and sunny, and warm, and full of the promises of a new day. Morning was a good thing…unless someone was trying to shake you awake when you would sooner burrow five feet underground and sleep there for eternity. It was with this mentality in mind that Trinity grumbled and cursed under her breath, turning violently onto her side, blankets over her head, swatting away the hand of the lost soul attempting to rouse her.

"Lady Trinity, wake up," murmured the voice, half resigned, half urgent. "Come on, up."

Trinity muttered something that sounded remarkably like "screw off" and yanked the pillow over her head, hoping to further deter the assailant, but it seemed to no avail. She might have the pillow over her head, but that meant she couldn't stop them from yanking the blankets clean off of her with a heavy sigh.

"Trinity!" The person was gently shaking her again, more insistently this time. "Get up!"

"Go away!" she moaned, curling into a ball on the bedroll. "Too early…"

The person sighed, totally exasperated, and Trinity sighed as their hands moved away, clearly giving up. Or so she thought. A split second later she let out a piercing shriek that was abruptly cut off by a hand clapping down over her mouth as something icy cold and wet slipped down the back of her shirt. Sitting bolt upright, eyes huge, screaming muffled curses past the hand still pressed firmly over her mouth she twisted and turned furiously, trying to get the ice out of her shirt. It eventually fell out onto the bedroll, where it melted very quickly, and she was left gasping past her assailant's hand, staring up into a rather amused pair of silvery eyes.

"Awake now?" Tertius asked lightly, slowly lowering his hand and rocking back onto his heels to eye her from where he crouched at her side. "Or do I need to grab another one?"

"You," Trinity gasped, still shocked from the cold and the sheer viciousness of the wake-up call, "You rat's ass—"

Tertius put his hand over her mouth again to muffle the last word, and she glared at him through furious sapphire eyes before reaching up to swat his hand away.

"When Ash wakes up," she hissed at him, jabbing a finger right into his armored chest, "You are _soooo _dead. Do you hear me? D-E-A-D, _DEAD_."

Tertius seemed to be trying not to smile, and the corners of his mouth kept twitching as he looked into her blazing cerulean eyes, totally unconcerned.

"You think I'm joking?" Trinity demanded, beginning to raise her voice so Tertius sighed and lifted his hand to muffle her again. She slapped at his arm and continued in a furious whisper, "Ash will have your _hide _for that! And even if he doesn't, I have some really nice friends in really high places that will knock you flat on your ass!"

"Do you like horses?" he asked unexpectedly, as though he hadn't heard her deliver her threat.

She stared at him, momentarily thrown from her track of fury and indignation, and blinked uncertainly at him as he lifted a jet black brow, his silver eyes questioning.

"Uh, yeah," she said, eyeing him curiously. "Why?"

"Are you a virgin?"

She gaped. "What kind of a question is that?" she almost yelled, causing several sleeping forms in the room to stir fitfully as Tertius clapped his hand down over her mouth again.

"There are still people asleep," he reminded her patiently, "And I'd like to keep it that way, because neither the Queen nor the Prince are very happy people this early in the morning when woken before they want to be woken."

"Join the club," grimaced Trinity, glaring at him. "Now, why the hell did you even ask me that question?"

Tertius sighed and rose to his feet, extending his hand wordlessly to her and giving her a bored look when she merely stared at his hand like it was some unknown entity that may just reach out and take her arm off if she tried to touch it.

"I'm not about to drag you into the middle of the wyldwood to senselessly ravage you, if that's what you're worried about," he told her casually so she turned a steely on him before reaching out cautiously to take the hand he offered.

Carefully, he drew her to her feet, glancing around to make sure no one else had woken as a result of her earlier yelling, and when the hut remained quiet and no one stirred to question what was going on he put a finger to his lips, signaling to her to stay quiet and led her to do the door, still holding firmly onto her hand to guide her around the sleeping bodies on the floor.

"Where are we going?" whispered Trinity, her tiredness forgotten as Tertius carefully opened the door to the hut and slipped outside with her behind him.

"You'll see," he murmured as he pulled the door slowly shut until it gave the tiniest thunk, then turning to look at her with a small smile.

"Come on, Tertius, be straight with me," she sighed, giving him a slightly aggravated look as he pulled her along, towards the west of the hut. "You got me up early, you dropped an ice cube down my shirt—I don't even know where you got it, to be honest—and you even questioned the status of my virginity!"

"It was a necessary question," he told her. "I am sorry for getting you up so early, but I was up even before you were patrolling and I really think you will want to see this. As for the ice cube, Prince Ash has a habit of dispelling glamour in his sleep. One time he froze over his entire bed chamber as the result of a nightmare."

He looked back at her with a slightly weary smile on his face at the memory.

"It took a week just to clear it all out and mop up," he sighed, rolling his eyes while Trinity stared at him. "It was not a fun time, I can tell you that."

"Well, good to know Ash has good battle reflexes even when he's clocked out," scoffed Trinity, ducking under a branch as Tertius led her through a small grove of spruces. "He's just lucky he didn't turn Meghan into a popsicle."

Tertius chuckled quietly at the joke and shook his head, holding back a larger branch to allow her to step through ahead of him.

"The Queen has her own glamour to save her from such an unfortunate mishap," he said as he took her hand again and paused, glancing around him before nodding towards a slightly more obstructed path where more trees were growing more closely together and beginning down it.

Trinity mumbled something in response, sticking close behind the knight as he continued to lead her along, feeling a little uncertain as the path got a bit dimmer, thanks to the branches clustering together to create a light catching net that prevented the early morning sunlight from penetrating much further the farther they went. She felt a little more aware of the fact that she was traveling further away from the hut, alone with Tertius, in the middle of the wyldwood, and felt a little knot form in her stomach as she glanced around and spotted some eight-eyed creature watching her curiously from up in the trees, its spindly legs clinging to a branch to steady itself.

"Tertius," she said after a moment, glancing around uneasily to see more pairs of eyes watching her from the dimness. "Seriously, where are we going? This is starting to creep me out."

Tertius paused to look back at her, in the process of lifting a branch out of their way, but when he saw the barely concealed fear flickering across her deep blue eyes he let the branch and turned to look at her, a small frown on his face.

"Are you worried I'm trying to hurt you?" he asked softly, cocking his head to one side, still retaining possession of her hand. She felt a small jolt in her gut as she felt his thumb feather thoughtlessly across her wrist.

"A little," she admitted, glancing behind her as something moved close by. "I mean, you got me up before everyone else and we're out here in the middle of nowhere. You haven't told me where we're going or what we're doing once we get there. I'm still a little freaked out that you wanted to know if I was a virgin or not. So, yeah, the thought you could be planning an assassination attempt had crossed my mind."

She said it jokingly, but in her mind she imagined him leading her to a pitch black clearing where no sunlight could reach and pulling a dagger, making some dramatic one line monologue about how long he'd been waiting for this moment before plunging it into her chest and leaving her to her fate in the wyldwood. It could easily be paranoia, as Tertius had never given her any reason to think he wanted her maimed or dead by any stretch of the imagination, but she had to be realistic. She was the daughter of Oberon's most revered general, and that made her a target. Tertius may be Meghan's and Ash's loyal knight, but everyone could turn traitor if they wanted to.

She shrugged lamely as Tertius looked into her pale face with unfathomable mercury colored eyes and offered a weak smile.

"So," she said, "You wouldn't happen to have plans for my murder, would you?"

Tertius sighed and did not smile, but turned fully to face and lifted a hand to brush a stray leaf out of her hair, sending a jolt from the crown of her head to the very tips of her toes so they curled in her sandals.

"You humans have quite the vivid imagination," he told her, still frowning. "Trinity, I'm not trying to kill you, or leave you out here to die."

She blinked up at him, rather taken aback by the blunt honesty in which he said it, then frowned and asked,

"Then what's up with the secretive attitude? You can't tell me what you're really up to? I'd seriously feel a lot better if you admitted that you're up to something devious than waiting until the last second."

Tertius opened his mouth as though to respond, then paused, his eyes flicking to the side as he apparently caught the sound of something too low for her ears to decipher, and immediately turned his head to his right, his silvery eyes narrowing before he looked back at her, finger at his lips again, and pointed in the direction of whatever he'd heard.

Trinity stared at him a minute, then stumbled forward a step as he gave her hand a gentle tug to lead her towards whatever was nearby. She felt her heart beginning to thud rapidly in her chest as she watched Tertius's back as he pulled her further into the wyldwood, not speaking. She didn't know what to think at this point. She knew he couldn't be lying when he said he wasn't trying to kill her or leave her out here to die, since he was just as bound to the rules of truth telling as anyone else, but she still didn't quite trust the way he seemed to always manage to avoid her main question of where the hell they were going and what he was going to do when they got there. So, murdering her was out, and possibly raping or seducing her was out, so what was left?

As he helped her cross over a small creek, she tried to think back through everything he'd said so far—which wasn't all that much—and came up with three things to consider. They were up super early and in the darkest part of the forest she'd seen so far, and slowly putting more and more distance between themselves and Spindle's hut. He had asked if she liked horses. He had also asked if she was a virgin… She hadn't really answered the last question, but she suspected he'd answered it for himself because of her reaction. After all, she figured most non-virgins flipped their top when they were asked about. But she'd always felt a little self conscious about it. After all, nineteen year old human virgins weren't something you heard about a lot in today's natural society as far as humans went.

So, her self-consciousness aside, they were up early and in a very creepy part of the wyldwood that looked like barely anyone—or anything—had been there in a long time save the creepy things watching them interestedly from above, she liked horses, and she was a virgin… Her mind started working with those few pieces of information, trying to make a connection as Tertius paused once more, just on the edge of a small clearing, but before she could get the puzzle pieces to fit and make sense of each other he had turned to her, dropping his hands on her shoulders so she started in alarm and looked up with wide eyes into his calm, handsome face, and he was lifting a finger to her lips as he pulled her carefully behind the broad trunk of an oak. She felt her face turn several different shades of pink as she noticed there was now scarcely three inches of space between her and the Iron Knight, though he didn't seem all the aware of it as he was too busy leaning slowly around the tree to peer cautiously into the clearing just ahead of them.

Trying not to let her heart get lodged in her throat as she took deep breaths and tried to remain silent as he'd instructed, Trinity gazed up into Tertius's face and felt a flicker of uncertainty as a small triumphant smile lit his face and he turned back to her.

Readjusting their position so she was in front of him, closer to the edge of the trunk concealing them, he leaned over her shoulder and whispered,

"Look in the clearing, but don't make a sound."

Glancing back at him, and nearly choking on her own tongue to see his inhumanely beautiful mere centimeters from hers, she swallowed the lump growing in her throat and carefully began to lean forward to peek around the broad trunk into the dimly lit clearing ahead of her, wondering just what she was about to see, and praying silently that Tertius didn't take the opportunity to stab her in the back.

But he didn't move, keeping his hands lightly on her shoulders, the warmth of his palms nearly burning holes through her t-shirt as she held her breath and finally managed to glimpse the inside of the small clearing, and felt her breath leave her in a swift rush as she saw just what Tertius had brought her to see.

It was lying out in the middle of the clearing, its head stretched out, the spiraled opal horn glittering faintly in the scant light thrown by the sun. Its cloven hooves scored the ground around it as it took deep breaths, its swollen white flank rising and falling rapidly, and a small whinny escaped it as its stomach contracted and it lifted its head to gaze through misty eyes down at its side. It was a unicorn, she realized, scarcely daring to breathe as she gazed avidly at the beautiful fey creature. And not just a unicorn; it was in labor. She had seen horses in labor before, even helped a few times when it was needed, and each time had been a miraculous experience for her, but this was something altogether different. It was magical. The silvery white hair of the animal was coated in a fine sheen of sweat, and its nostrils flared with each deep breath it took, occasionally tossing its head back with another quiet whinny, and striking at the ground with its iridescent hooves.

Its side rose and fell rapidly with every breath, but Trinity could see the subtle movement of the foal inside as its mother worked to bring it into the world. She felt a slight squeeze from Tertius's hands, and spared a glance back at him to see he was also looking at the unicorn, his silver eyes glittering with wonder and also with worry as he watched the legendary animal struggle.

"She's fine," Trinity couldn't help but whisper, and his eyes flickered down to hers.

They stared at each other for a long moment, vibrant sapphire to molten mercury, and then Tertius nodded once, and they both turned their attention to the unicorn as it gave a shrill whinny. Trinity felt her breath catch again as she saw a tiny white body move beside the mother, who lifted her head to nicker softly as the foal lifted its head shakily. It had to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, she thought, staring in awe as the tiny unicorn blinked its large misty eyes open, making small noises as its mother rose to her hooves and turned to nuzzle the foal. The foal had no horn, Trinity noticed as it made a show of getting shakily to its own feet with gentle nudges and encouraging snorts from its mother, but as it turned she could make out the tiniest glimmer of silver on its forehead, and saw a small bump of opal. The very beginnings of what would one day grow into the regal, spiraled horn that gave it its name.

The foal stumbled a few times as it began to take its first uncertain steps around the clearing, under the watchful eyes of his mother who always kept several steps behind to give him a nudge when he faltered or dropped to his front legs. In a matter of moments, however, the tiny newborn was prancing eagerly all around the clearing, neighing and nickering excitedly as it trotted circles around its mother, who watched with fond eyes before beginning towards the far end of the clearing, away from where Trinity and Tertius still stood, hidden in shadow. The colt gave a last, high pitched, and cantered after his mother, tossing his short mane so it caught the light, casting silver beams all around, before the shadows on the other side of the clearing closed in around both him and his mother, and they disappeared from sight, leaving nothing behind but a memory of what had just happened.

Trinity didn't move for several more minutes, still staring in a slight trance into the clearing after the mother and newborn, then felt Tertius take a slow breath behind her, as though he'd been holding it in, and realized she was also holding her breath and let it out in a swift rush, blinking rapidly. Something moist touched her cheek and she realized there were tears in her eyes. Quickly she wiped them away and turned instead to beam up at Tertius, who was smiling softly down at her.

"Tertius," she breathed, her voice fairly trembling, "That was…that was so amazing! I can't believe I got to see that happen! Thank you…"

Really, she felt there should be better words to express her gratitude to him for letting her be able to see something so miraculous, but she just couldn't find them no matter how hard she thought it over, and could only stand there with senseless tears of joy in her eyes, beaming up at him as he smiled back. At least everything made sense to her now. The earliness, the horses, the stupid virginity question…

"Thank you," she said again, wiping at her eyes. "Really that was just…wow…"

"I thought you would like it," he told her in his quiet voice, and gently took her hand in his, pulling her away from the clearing. "I came across her earlier when I was patrolling and could tell she was close. I remembered hearing that you loved horses, and—though you should probably never call them a 'horse' to their face—I felt if anyone could really appreciate that, it would be you. And if something went wrong, you'd be able to help."

Trinity could only nod and smile, feeling like she was on Cloud 9 as he led her back through the woods. Her heart was still racing in her chest, and she felt that she could live a thousand years and never forget what she had just seen. That memory would stay with her even when everything faded into a hazy blur. It had been the most miraculous thing she had ever seen in her life, and she felt she would never see anything that came close to being as beautiful or magical.

"I don't know if you'll tell anyone else about this," Tertius murmured to her, pushing back a branch so she could move ahead safely, "But just so you don't feel like you have to keep it a secret, it's perfectly alright if you decide to tell Catherine and Nicolette and the others."

Trinity contemplated that for a moment as she fell back into step beside the Iron Knight, then smiled to herself and said,

"I think I'll keep it our little secret. Besides, Nikki would never forgive me if I got to see a unicorn and she didn't."

Tertius glanced down at her and smiled in his little way.

"You're probably right," he agreed with a low chuckle. "Then I suppose it's best to keep quiet."

"Probably," she giggled in agreement, then, for no reason at all, without even thinking, she linked her hand with his.

He turned his silver eyes on her, looking surprised, and she felt a flush steal into her cheeks as she realized she may have crossed a boundary. Mumbling an apology she made to pull her hand away, but started in alarm as Tertius linked his fingers carefully through hers and tightened his grip so she couldn't pull back. Lifting her head to stare into his face, she felt her heart kick start as he smiled a slow, tender smile at her, his eyes going liquid and swirling with emotion.

As she looked on, he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, sending butterflies soaring through her stomach.

"Our little secret?" he murmured, gazing at her as he dropped their linked hands back between them. "For now?"

Trinity felt as though her stomach had dissolved, and abruptly the world seemed to spin until she thought it might fall out from underneath her, but the feel of Tertius's strong, warm hand around hers anchored her, and she swallowed hard before giving a small smile.

"Our secret," she agreed quietly, and he smiled so blindingly that she felt momentarily dazzled. "You've got to stop doing that, though."

"Doing what?" he asked, looking surprised as he began to lead her through the trees again.

"That thing," she said, "Where you dazzle me. It usually happens when you smile."

"So, try not to smile?" He sounded like he was trying not to laugh as he looked down at her through glittering silver eyes.

"Not exactly," she said lightly, ducking under a tree branch and grinning at him, "Just tone it down so I can still walk and talk at the same time."

"Well, it's only fair to dazzle you occasionally," he told her, chuckling now, "Since you do it to me all the time."

Trinity felt her heart somersault in her chest, and stumbled over a protruding tree root as a result of her momentary brain deadness, causing her to slam right into Tertius, and they both toppled to the ground, Tertius being the brave knight and taking the brunt of the impact with his arms around her to keep her from getting injured.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed, shoving herself up and glaring at the tree root. She thought she heard a snicker somewhere but glaring up into the trees and around her she discovered nothing. "I am so sorry, Tertius! I didn't see that stupid root sticking up!"

Tertius started laughing as he pushed himself up, dusting leaves and grass out of his hair, then reaching forward to do the same for her.

"I think I'll live," he told her, smirking as he pulled them both to their feet. "I've endured worse than falling into the dirt. Believe me, my spars with Glitch are much worse."

"I can believe that," she sighed, still feeling like a total ditz as she let him draw her through the trees, which were slowly growing thinner so shafts of sunlight could illuminate their path. "I'm still sorry about that. That was a total klutz moment…"

"You are not a klutz," he chortled.

"Yes, I am," she muttered. He gave her a look, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief, a little smirk playing around the corners of his mouth.

"Trinity," he sighed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the sky, which was finally visible through the canopy of trees, "You _did _see Glitch fall thirty feet out of a tree the other day, didn't you?"

Trinity remembered Tertius's fellow knight careening out of the towering tree he had been attempting to follow Tertius into, and had to stifle a giggle as she remembered how he'd come up with grass and dirt stuck between his teeth.

"Yeah, I saw," she said, grinning up at Tertius.

"_That_," he said seriously, "Is a klutz. So, you do not even come close to qualifying as one. Trust me."

Trinity giggled, and continued to follow him as he led her by the hand back towards to Spindle's hut, which was just becoming visible through the tree line as they approached. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing that was becoming visible…

"Ah, damn it," muttered Trinity, feeling her stomach plunge as she spotted Ash and Glitch standing outside of the hut, clearly in the middle of a fierce conversation. Ash seemed to be accusing Glitch of something, his tone low and fierce, even from the distance Trinity and Tertius were at, and he kept glaring at Glitch as the knight gesticulated wildly and looked caught between frustrated and desperate.

"They've noticed our absence," sighed Tertius, rolling his eyes, and reluctantly pulling his hand from Trinity's, giving her a small smile. "For once, I feel bad for Glitch. Ash isn't very nice when he's up early in the morning _and _discovers one of his knights missing."

"You were on patrol, though," Trinity said with a small frown, both from confusion at why Ash wouldn't have considered that Tertius was still patrolling, and from disappointment as she lost the warmth of her knight's hand.

"I was," he agreed with another sigh, "But I was supposed to come wake up Glitch so he could take my place. They probably think I got lost and you went looking for me, or we've eloped."

"We totally eloped," said Trinity with a smirk.

"Of course," said Tertius with a soft chuckle as they came nearer to the hut. They were finally within good hearing range, and in time to hear Glitch say,

"The idiot was supposed to come wake me up to change shifts, but he never did! When I woke up he wasn't there and she was gone!"

"Fantastic," Ash growled, drawing a hand over his face. "Just fantastic…Meghan is going to murder me for this…not to mention Nicolette and Goodfellow will have my ass if I can't find Trinity."

"Oh, well, if they're going to have your ass, I'll just go hide out in the woods again," Trinity said as she strode up with Tertius, causing Glitch and Ash to whirl around to stare at them.

"There you are!" Glitch exclaimed, stalking up to Tertius and punching him in the chest. "You ass! Where the hell were you?! We thought you'd fallen off the face of the earth!"

"I was patrolling," said Tertius in a resigned voice, rubbing his shoulder and fixing Glitch with a frown. "I saw something interesting and came back to get Trinity because I thought she'd like to see it."

"And just what was it?" Glitch demanded.

"A horse," said Trinity immediately, and it wasn't a lie, exactly. "He remembered I really liked horses, so he brought me to see it."

"A horse," said Ash dully, looking ready to smack someone for the death glare he was giving Tertius. "You dragged her out of the hut without telling anyone to go see a _horse_?"

Tertius shrugged helplessly.

Ash sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking exhausted. "It's too damn early for this crap," he muttered, shaking his head dismally. "I'm going back to bed. Glitch, go patrol. Tertius, get your ass in the hut and stay there. Trinity…"

He looked at her for a moment, though he didn't seem quite sure what to say to her and she simply stood there watching him with a calm expression, waiting to see if he'd really make the stupid mistake of trying to boss her around. Luckily for him, he seemed smart enough to know better and simply sighed, waving a hand at her.

"Whatever," he muttered. "Just please don't go running off like that again. Nicolette wouldn't let me hear the end of it if you got lost just five days after finding Catherine."

Trinity smirked at him, just imaging the kind of hell Nikki would bring down on Ash's head if he had to be the one to tell her that somehow her other best friend had mysteriously vanished along with his right hand man. Yeah, that would've just been the worst day in history for Ash. Not to mention Trinity would probably have gotten an earful when she came back, and no one gave a verbal smack down quite like Nikki when she was good and mad.

Turning briefly to Tertius, who was looking rather weary in his way as Ash turned away from him and Glitch fixed his partner with a dark stare, she smiled up at the silvery eyed knight, who gave her a small grin in response.

"We really need to disappear more often," she told him jokingly.

"Just with more planning in advance," he agreed with a little chortle. "I don't think Ash will be as nice to me the next I decide to disappear without a trace."

"Ha!" snorted Glitch. "I don't care if Ash wouldn't be nice to you for it, I'd skin you for it, so make sure you remember that the next time you get that wild hair up your ass to go prancing off into the great unknown, you moron!"

And with that the violet eyed knight turned on his heel and marched off, grumbling to himself, leaving Tertius with Trinity. Tertius sighed and gave a roll of his eyes, looking vaguely amused as he watched his partner stride away, straight backed and indignant.

"That's how he tells me he cares," he informed Trinity when Glitch was out of ear shot, and she snickered.

"I am so sure," she teased him as he stepped forward to hold open the door of the hut for her. "It just screams 'I love you, bro, don't die on me'."

Tertius laughed openly, causing Ash and Meghan, who were rolling up their bedrolls to turn and stare them.

"What's so funny?" asked Ash, cocking an eyebrow at his doppelganger.

"I was being a smart ass," Trinity said off handedly, shrugging as she swept past the Iron Prince and Queen towards the end room where Nikki and Catherine were resting. "He thought it was funny."

"Uh-huh," said Ash slowly, giving his right hand man a stern glare, to which Tertius lightly cleared his throat and went about the business of packing away bedrolls for the day, though a faint smile still lingered on his lips as he hunched over his rucksack, stuffing two bedrolls and a couple blankets into it.

Trinity glanced back once at the knight and felt a lightness in her heart and a smile on her face as she saw him trying not to look too amused as Ash continued to watch the Iron fey out of the corner of his eye, and stifled a giggle of her own as she turned back to rap merrily on the door to the bedroom.

"Nik," she called when no one answered. "I'm coming in, so I hope you're decent."

She reached for the handle to push it open, but before she could touch it the door swung open quietly and a pair of tired emerald eyes peered out at her from under a mess of copper hair as Catherine poked her head out the door with a sigh.

"What?" she said when Trinity's mouth fell open, "I don't get a chance to be decent before you come knocking down doors?"

"Cat!" squealed Trinity, completely jubilant as she seized her friend by the arm and yanked her clear out of the room to pull her into a crushing hug. "You're awake!"

"Ow," said Catherine tiredly as she felt her back pop in several places under the force of Trinity's hug. "That kind of hurt, Tri…"

"Sorry," said Trinity, releasing her friend as the door swung open wider to reveal a sleepy eyed Puck and Nikki was they looked out to see what the noise was about. "I'm just so happy you're finally awake!"

"Mm," muttered Catherine, rubbing at her tired eyes as she fumbled for a seat, dropping onto the first stool she laid hands on. "I get the feeling I've been out for a while…how long was I asleep?"

"Five days," said Trinity, dragging up a stool in front of her friend as Nikki also came out to join them, looking much more awake as she threw her arms around Catherine in a hug. "That nightshade is really something, huh?"

"No kidding," sighed Catherine, giving Nikki a pat on the arm and a small smile. "I don't think anyone else could sleep that well without being stone dead."

"Other than Demon," Nikki told her with a grin as she dropped onto a stool beside her. Puck muttered a greeting before stumbling away to go forage around for whatever food might be available in Spindle's cupboards. "I swear, that cat could sleep through World War III if he wanted to."

"And Puck," Trinity pointed out as she watched the Summer faery rummage mindlessly through one of the cupboards until he'd fished out a bowl of fruit. "That guy sure can sleep."

"Well, he was out late last night," Nikki said defensively as the fiery headed fey pulled up a stool beside her, tossing her an apple before taking an enormous bite out of a peach for himself.

"You both were," Trinity said, giving her dark eyed friend and Puck a suspicious look. "You looked about ready to pass out when you got back. Spindle thought she'd have to get someone to carry the both of you to bed for how clumsy you were coming in."

"It's what happens when you go making trees grow," Puck said idly, looking a little more his normal cheerful self as he finished the peach and chose a bright green apple out of the bowl. "I thought we'd told you all this before we passed out last night that she's a natural at using her glamour."

"You did," said Trinity with a smirk while Cat turned to fix Nikki with an amazed look. "But it sounded like gibberish for all you managed to get out as the two of you collapsed in bed. You were both out by the time your heads hit the pillow, and Spindle looked kind of annoyed that she hadn't gotten to use nightshade on the both of you."

"Hell, we would never have woken up if she had," laughed Nikki, snatching a pear from the bowl in Puck's lap and handing it to Cat. "Eat, girl, you've been sleeping for five days and you need food."

Catherine looked ready to turn down the fruit when her stomach gave a telling rumble and Nikki smirked knowingly and waved the pear in front of her friend's face.

"Eat it," she said firmly, and, Catherine, with a sigh, rested it from her friend's grip and took a huge bite out of it. "And when you're done with that, you can eat this." She plunked an apple out of the bowl, much to Puck's disappointment, and balancing it neatly on her friend's knee. "And then we can talk about all that you missed in the past five days, like me making trees grow thirty feet tall, and getting mad at a bunch of nymphs, and how Glitch fell fifteen feet out of a tree the other day trying to chase Tertius around."

Catherine's eyebrows rose until they were almost disappearing into her hair, and chewed slowly on the pear as she eyed both Nikki and Trinity, who grinned back at her.

"Sounds like all had some fun while I was passed out," the girl observed with a small smirk as she swallowed her mouthful of fruit. "And I'd love to hear all about it, after I get some questions answered."

"Fire away," Trinity invited her, propping her chin up on her hands. "We'll answer anything you've got to throw at us."

"Alright then," Catherine took a moment to take another bite of pear, thinking carefully over her potential questions as she looked slowly between Trinity's luminous face and shining blue eyes, and Nikki, who was snickering as she snatched the very last apple from Puck's grip and took a huge bite out of it while he glared half heartedly at her.

Catherine swallowed the pear piece, blinking her emerald eyes at Nikki, and with a small grin asked, "So, what's up with you two?"

"Eh, what?" Nikki asked, momentarily distracted as Puck snatched the apple back and took a bite out of the other side, looking very proud of his theft.

"You and the infamous Puck here," Catherine said lightly, folding her arms over her chest and quirking an eyebrow. "What's the story here?"

Nikki paused halfway to wrestling the apple away from Puck, and looked back at Catherine with wide chocolate brown eyes.

"Ehh," she said uncertainly, and her cheeks turned a light pink.

"We're madly in love," said Puck casually, snatching the apple back while Nikki's attention was diverted and taking another enormous bite out of it. "She's totally smitten with me. Can't keep her off me."

Catherine cocked an eyebrow. "Really?" she said, glancing at Nikki, who was now glaring at Puck, though whether for taking her apple or opening his big yap, it was hard to tell. "This I've got to hear."

"It's a pretty basic story," Puck said easily, smirking at Nikki as she glared daggers at him.

"It is not, don't lie," the girl told him irritably.

"Me, lie?" Puck's emerald eyes stretched wide in shock. "Does this look like the face of a liar to you?"

"I'm not answering that question," said Nikki, and grabbed the apple out of his hand as he gaped at her.

"Hey, now!" he said while Trinity and Catherine exchanged knowing looks and smirks. "I cannot tell a lie!"

"No, but you can sure as hell spin the truth eight different ways," Nikki told him, keeping the apple out of his reach as he made several bids to grab it back from her. "And quit trying to steal my apple, you fiend!"

"Your apple? That apple clearly is mine. I had it first!"

"I don't know what faery wine you've been hammering, but I took first bite. It's mine!"

"You get the idea," said Trinity idly to Catherine, who was giggling as she watched the banter continue between Nikki and Puck as they squabbled mindlessly over the apple and who owned it as a result.

"Yeah, I do," sighed Catherine, shaking her head and smiling at Nikki, who turned to fix her with a confused look.

"And what's the idea?" demanded Nikki, her brow furrowing as she looked through skeptical brown eyes at her friends, each of who were wearing identical looks of amusement and knowing on their faces.

"You guys are so cute," said Catherine, shaking her head.

Nikki glowered and had to fight back the urge to blurt out 'it's not like that' as she might otherwise. It would be a lie to say it wasn't exactly how Trinity and Catherine were picturing it, and it would be a low blow to Puck to say she didn't like him when she'd spent a good few minutes the night before telling him straight that she loved him. And she wasn't about to play coy because it was embarrassing to admit that she was in love with the one and only Robin Goodfellow.

"Just keep it to yourself," sniffed Nikki, turning her nose up, then yelping as Puck jabbed her in the side, causing her to drop the apple so he could snatch it right out of the air and bite into it. "Robin Goodfellow!"

"Sorry, beautiful," Puck said as he finished off the last edible bit of the apple and flashed her a small smirk, "Just couldn't resist a good apple."

"You're scum," she told him darkly, surprising him by snatching the apple core back and beginning to nibble on it.

"So I've heard," snickered Puck, eyeing her thoughtfully as she whittled away the apple core with her teeth. "Are you seriously going to eat that?"

"Yes," said Trinity and Catherine in answer for their friend.

"When she says she eats the whole apple, she means the _whole _apple," Trinity explained with a roll of her eyes. "Apple core, seeds and all."

"Waste not, want not," Catherine said with a small smile at Nikki, who grinned at her friends, apple juice coating her lips.

"And I shall not waste," she declared proudly as she managed to finish off the last little bit of the apple core. The swiftness in which she'd done it had Puck staring as she swallowed, and she flashed him a wry smile as she caught him ogling her.

"I win," she said with a wink.

"The hell you did," Puck scoffed, "That's cheating! Who eats apple cores?!"

"Nikki does," said Catherine idly with a small smirk. "You're just jealous you don't go that far."

Puck pursed his lips as he leveled a look at the emerald eyed girl, who just smirked back at him, unperturbed.

"I can see we have a rivalry in the making," Puck said slowly, eyeing Catherine with all the wariness he usually saved for Ash.

"Do we?" asked Catherine, looking mildly surprised. "And just what did I do to warrant such a rivalry with the famous Robin Goodfellow?"

"You took her side," Puck said, jerking a thumb at Nikki.

"That's a given," snorted Trinity. "She always takes Nik's side."

"Not always," said Catherine neutrally. "I also play Switzerland."

"Only when it's an argument between Tri and I," Nikki told her with a wry smirk.

"Then she's required to play Switzerland," said Trinity, rolling her eyes. "Just like I'm neutral between the two of you, and you're neutral when it's between Cat and I."

"Fair point," said Nikki while Puck looked thoughtfully between the three of them, the cogs in his mind turning rapidly.

"So, let's just say, hypothetically," he said, his emerald eyes narrowed, "That Cat took Nikki's side on an issue and you took my side, Tri…"

The look Trinity gave him had Catherine and Nikki bursting into laughter.

"Fat ass chance," Trinity informed Puck, clicking her tongue. He gave her a dark look, then sighed woefully as he gaze down into the now empty fruit bowl.

"Is there no one who cares for this Puck?" he asked the room at large, looking up with wide, beseeching eyes at Nikki, who was doing her best to pretend like she didn't notice him at all. "No one at all to care for this lost soul?"

"I don't see anyone volunteering," Ash called from the other side of the hut, and Puck shot a venomous glare back at the Prince, who smirked in reply.

"Getting on," sighed Catherine as Puck lodged the wooden fruit bowl across the room at Ash, who ducked just in time to avoid it while Meghan started snapping at the both of them. "So, Nikki has a potential love interest. That much I figured out five days ago."

"Because you're so smart like that, Cat," sighed Nikki, rolling her eyes and flashing a small smile.

"No, it was just kind of obvious," said Cat with a giggle as she turned then to Trinity, "And you, ma'am."

Trinity raised her eyebrows in surprise, pointing at herself and Catherine nodded seriously.

"Yes, you," she said, narrowing her emerald eyes at her friend. "You're all aglow this morning. Bright and radiant more so than your usual sunny self, and I'm just wondering what's happened to make you look so happy and luminous."

Trinity merely blinked in bewilderment at her friend as the girl gave her a very critical look, and then glanced at Nikki—looking for some kind of help—but the brown eyed girl merely shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm curious, too, actually," she admitted with an impish grin. "You _do _look a lot happier than normal, and I heard Tertius laughing when he came in. No one makes him laugh but you, so…"

Her eyes glinted eagerly as she leaned in closer to Trinity, who could feel an inevitable heat creeping up the back of her neck.

"Just what's going on with you and the Iron clad knight over there?" Nikki asked in a conspirator's whisper, her eyes narrowing. "And don't even think of saying 'nothing' because you haven't been able to lie for crap since we got here and neither can I for that matter, so let's not even try."

Trinity felt herself growing very hot around the collar of her t-shirt and found herself glancing over at Tertius as the knight stood at the cauldron, conversing idly with Spindle, who had just gotten up from her nest to start her day. She felt her stomach do a funny little flip as the knight seemed to become aware that he was being watched, and glanced over to make eye contact with her for the briefest moment before she tore her eyes away, feeling her cheeks flush hot with crimson.

"She's turning red," sang Catherine lightly under her breath, her gaze eager as well as she leaned on the table in front of her to stare avidly into Trinity's face. "Come on, Tri, you know we won't laugh or say anything mean to you. Please?"

Trinity glanced uncertainly between her two friends, feeling her heart begin to play pinball on her ribs before sinking straight into her gut as she swallowed her nervousness and mumbled,

"It's not anything big."

Nikki and Catherine didn't quite look convinced, so she pressed on in a whisper,

"He just…I don't know…he hasn't said he likes me or anything, but he took me out this morning to see something really amazing—something he didn't show anyone else—and…I don't know…"

She knew it was a lame way to finish out, but she'd told them basically what she could. It was the truth, too. Tertius hadn't gone so far as to say that he liked her, even though his actions seemed to speak a lot more loudly than whatever words he might say, and Nikki had made the point of saying she'd heard the knight laughing that morning and that Trinity was the only one who'd managed to make him really laugh, which she wasn't sure if she entirely believed or not. She knew that Tertius was a little more serious than the rest of the group, but she'd suspected that was because right now he was on duty at all times to protect his Queen and Prince while they were wandering through the wyldwood, and he could easily be a laughing guy back in Iron with Glitch.

A voice in the back of her head nagged at her, telling her that was possibly the stupidest and most sorry excuse she could have come up with, and she twisted her hands together in her lap, staring down at her toes while Catherine and Nikki sat quietly across from her, waiting with slight hope that she would say more.

Finally, Trinity sighed and shrugged again. "I really don't know," she mumbled.

There was a pause, and Catherine glanced past her friend to where Tertius was still lingering by the fireplace with Spindle. The knight kept glancing over at Trinity discreetly when the girl wasn't looking, but once he caught Catherine watching him watch her friend he didn't do it again…except once…

"Do you like him?" Nikki asked in an undertone, leaning closer so their privacy was a little more assured.

Trinity glanced up uncomfortably at her friend, who was looking at her with gentle concern in her eyes. That was Nikki, not trying to pry into her life like some eager gossiper, but as an interested and caring friend, and Catherine was the same, turning warm green eyes on Trinity as she also leaned in closer.

"A little," Trinity mumbled, looking down again. "I mean…he's really nice and all…"

Nikki couldn't help but snort at that. "Tri," she said, almost reprimanding, "It's more than just that, and I know it. You guys may not have made a solid official thing yet, but I see the way you look at him when he's not looking, and vice versa, and he _does _look at you, just for the record. You guys have got chemistry. He cares about what you think and feel. Remember the night we were getting ready to go storming into Tir Na Nog for Cat and he was there to calm you down while the rest of us were acting like idiots?"

Trinity nodded mutely, because she did remember. Tertius had been a solid anchor then when she'd felt like the world was going to fall to pieces because they'd wasted a whole day that could otherwise have been spent rescuing Catherine. He'd been there to comfort her and reassure her that the next day would be better and give them what they wanted. She hadn't really thought on it, then, but that little moment between them had made her stronger. He'd been there to give her a grip on reality when she was losing herself.

"He cares," Nikki went on in a gentle murmur. "I know he does, Tri, and I know you care about him. You guys are always laughing and smiling when you're around each other. And he started off being this stoic, uptight, kind of colder version of Ash when we first met him. You changed that."

Trinity mumbled something under her breath that sounded like a denial, and Nikki glared at her friend.

"Tri," she said sharply, causing Trinity's blue eyes to flash up in alarm to her friend's face, "Don't even. Don't even go down that road of 'it's not like that' or 'he doesn't think about it like that' or 'even if he does I'm not good enough'. I will walk right over there and ask him myself how he feels if I have to, I swear I will."

She fixed Trinity with a fierce stare until her friend finally heaved a deep sigh and nodded her ivory head.

"I haven't been in the mix long," Catherine murmured, reaching out to put a hand over Trinity's, "But I've seen enough in the past few minutes. He can't keep his eyes off of you, Tri. And whatever he showed you this morning without even showing Ash or Meghan—his Queen and Prince—means a lot."

"I really want to know what he showed you," Nikki admitted, giving Trinity a quizzical look. "I mean…you guys didn't go off and…_do _something did you?"

She asked the question because she really couldn't be sure. Normally, Trinity was up and in charge and in total command of herself and the situation, and now she was sitting her with her blond head ducked low and blushing to beat the band and mumbling like Spindle on one of her rants.

"We didn't do anything like that," Trinity said immediately, her tone both embarrassed but firm. "Really. Nothing. He…he took me to see a unicorn…"

She said it because there was no real way around it, and she didn't feel like Nikki and Catherine were going to go out of their way to give her grief about not sharing the encounter with them sooner while they were trying to make sense of her hidden feelings for Ash's right hand man. She did notice that the two of them had amazed expressions on their faces, and Nikki gave a soft "wow" of awe and slight envy, but other than that they kept on track.

"That really means something, Tri," murmured Nikki solemnly. "Think about it, how many guys do you know would go sneaking through the woods with you to show you a unicorn? I don't know many, to be honest."

Trinity gave a sheepish grin at this and nodded her head. "I know," she sighed, closing her eyes, "I know...it was…it was so amazing and everything… When he woke me up this morning he didn't say what was going on at first, he just said he remembered I liked horses and asked if I was a virgin and we were off. I thought he was up to something bad at first, to be honest, but then we got there and…it was just so unbelievable."

The awe in her voice was clearly noticeable as she remembered the event, and as she opened her eyes to stare at her two friends with a smile on her face they could see the glimmer of pure joy in her sapphire eyes shining back at them. They themselves couldn't help but smile as they felt the shared excitement coming off of Trinity in waves, and Catherine gave her friend's hand a squeeze.

"I'm happy for you," she murmured, beaming.

Trinity nodded, then frowned, looking down again. "There's just one problem," she muttered, and Catherine frowned in confusion as Nikki gasped quietly in realization.

"What is it?" Catherine asked, looking uncertainly between her two friends as Nikki and Trinity exchanged knowing looks.

"Trinity belongs to the Summer Court," Nikki explained quietly. "Tertius belongs to the Iron Court. There's a law that says the courts aren't permitted to mingle with each other in issues of love. It's forbidden. Think Romeo and Juliet and that's basically what you've got, minus the suicide and all that drama."

"But…" Catherine was frowning still. "Ash and Meghan…"

"They're a super special case," said a voice then, catching them by surprise, and a moment later Catherine was giving a squeak of alarm as Demon leapt lightly into her lap, his yellow-green eyes narrowed as he fixed them on Trinity's face. "Meghan and Ash were chosen victims of a Fate that made their paths unbreakably bound together. How they ever ended up surviving the ordeals they did to become the Queen and Prince they are today is an incredible legend among the Nevernever, but it hasn't stopped the courts from being positively barbaric on the idea of shared love between any of the three courts. Particularly between the woodland courts and the Iron court. You know Iron is a deadly substance to Winter and Summer, so the very idea of the two mixing in a relationship is absolutely horrifying to faery folk."

"Oh," murmured Catherine, frowning. "But…that shouldn't have to apply to Trinity. She's half human as well. If she wanted, she could leave Summer and go back to the human world and find a trod to get to the Iron kingdom instead. No one would really be able to stop her, since the Summer court is powerless against the Iron fey."

"True," conceded Demon, swiping a vividly pink tongue around his muzzle, "But you have to consider that Ash might not permit it, either."

"Oh, come on," hissed Nikki, looking furious. "That would have to be the _worst _case of hypocrisy I have ever heard of! A former Winter Prince who went on a journey to be with the half human Summer Princess doesn't let his Iron guard be with the love of his life? That's twisted."

"Yes, it is," sighed Demon, sounding weary, "But that's life. I'm not saying for certain that Ash would turn away the idea of Summer and Iron combining—since that's the very essence of the power that Meghan wields—but to say that Summer is powerless against the Iron fey isn't quite true."

"You said iron is poisonous to faeries," Nikki pointed out, while Trinity was looking very much like she'd like to end the conversation.

"It is," said Demon patiently, flicking his tail, "But that does not mean Oberon will pay any mind to that considering Trinity is the daughter of his famed General. Haven't you considered that there might be a will somewhere that has Trinity's father as giving her a betrothed to marry in Arcadia?"

"There isn't," Nikki said immediately. "Trust me, that was on Oberon's mind from the minute we got there, but he admitted there was nothing left behind to say that Trinity had to marry this lord or the other. She's free to choose who she wants."

"Within the Summer Court," Demon inserted quietly. "I doubt Oberon was considering a cross-Court marriage when he said that. He was hard put to stop Meghan and Ash from marrying, despite the fact they weren't considered part of either court anymore, just inhabitants of the Iron Kingdom."

"She could reject her place in Summer," Catherine pointed out softly, and that was where Trinity put her foot down.

"Guys, chill out," she whispered, a little desperately, "It's not like Tertius and I are trying to tie the knot or anything! There's no need to act like this is going to lead to a war or something."

"We didn't say that," Nikki soothed her friend, "But if you end up really liking this guy and he really likes you, I don't see why Oberon should have a say in it. You're not his daughter and you're not really his charge, even if you are his General's daughter. You're part human, too, and we humans get a say in our lives, thanks very much."

"Yes, we do, but let's not go jumping the gun," muttered Trinity. "It's just a crush, alright?"

"For now," said Catherine quietly, not joking or teasing, just calm and serious.

Trinity shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not quite liking the way the conversation had turned, but it was done and now they needed to move on.

"So, Cat," she said, feeling a little choked as she looked at her friend, who gazed back with attentive emerald eyes, "What about you?"

"Yeah," said Nikki immediately, looking eager, "You were gone for so long, chick! Not to mention imprisoned and all that fun stuff."

"Yeah, fun," said Cat with a grimace, feeling a small twisting in her gut.

"How did you get caught in the first place?" asked Trinity, frowning, relieved that they'd finally moved on to something else, but a little nervous about how Catherine would feel discussing her temporary jail time.

"That was my fault, I'm afraid," Demon piped up from the girl's lap, looking up with remorseful yellow-green eyes. "When we first arrived in Nevernever, through a trod leading into Tir Na Nog, I had her hide in a nearby cave while I went to scout the area, but that immediately made her a target. Some of Prince Rowan's guards spotted me leaving the cave and went to check out whether I'd left anything behind and found her. I came back to find her being dragged off to the castle."

Catherine frowned at the memory, and Trinity and Nikki looked absolutely horrified.

"Did they hurt you?" demanded Nikki.

"No," said Catherine, shaking her head. "They thought about it, until one of them sensed I was half human, and then they decided they'd sooner wear an iron collar than put their hands on me. Once they got me to the dungeons they locked me up and cleared out. The only real scare were the red caps that tried getting in one night, but something kept them away, and they didn't come back."

Trinity shuddered at the idea of a group of vicious, flesh eating goblins getting at her friend while she was manacled in some kind of pitch black hell hole.

"I wasn't there long, really," Catherine said, shrugging. "Maybe a few days, but I was only the dungeon for a day and a night before getting out. All the other time I was being questioned by Mab and Rowan about who I was and where I'd come from and what I was doing there. The typical stuff, you know? But then the time I was back in the dungeon Demon had apparently snuck in and he got me out really quickly. We left right after that and went back through a trod to the human world for a while. Then I decided to come back again through the same trod, so we did. That time, though, we had to hide from the guards again and I ended up falling and breaking my ankle."

"Heard about that," said Trinity tartly, giving her friend a severe look. "And what the hell were you doing in the air anyway?"

"Thornguards aren't very smart," Demon explained with a low purr, "They hunt on the ground and never look up. The safest place was the trees to wait for them to pass us by. Of course, she lost her grip and fell. Prince Sage found her after that and you know the rest from there, I assume."

"Yeah, Bane told us," Nikki murmured. "You owed him a couple favors for him taking care of Catherine and keeping Rowan from finding her."

"Indeed," sighed Demon, looking drawn. "Fortunately the Prince never made a great deal of asking anything outrageous. A Summoning was one favor, and my oath of silence as well on the matter."

Catherine had gone a bit tense at the mention of outrageous favors, and was gazing almost sightlessly down at Demon's head as the Cait Sith went on,

"I suppose I did a poor job of staying silent, though the Prince had asked me not to say anything to Mab or the rest of the Winter Court if confronted about it, so I suppose there is a loophole for everything."

"No kidding," said Nikki, shaking her head, then looked at Catherine, frowning when she saw her friend gazing unseeingly down at the table. "Cat, you okay?"

Catherine started, and looked up at her friend, who was watching her with concern in her dark eyes. "Yeah," she murmured. "Just…it's hard to think about these things…you know?"

Nikki nodded her understanding and smiled gently as she reached out to pat Catherine's shoulder.

"Let's talk about something else," Trinity suggested. "Like today's plans. What are we doing today? You're up now"—she grinned at Cat—"so we need to figure out what happens next."

"I thought you all had hoped to go to Arcadia soon," Demon said lightly. "If that is still your plan, it is best to leave immediately if we are leaving at all. I am healed and ready to leave, and I am sure Meghan and Ash would like to return to their kingdom soon."

Trinity felt a lead weight settle in her gut as she realized he was right about Meghan and Ash leaving. They would want to return to the Iron Kingdom immediately, but that meant Tertius went with them…

She glanced over her shoulder towards the Iron Knight, who was watching her again with a small frown on his face, having heard the Cait Sith's words. Their eyes locked for a split second, and he offered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. She looked away, feeling her chest constrict at the idea that she had just gone through the beginnings of admitting her affection for him to Nikki and Catherine and was now about to have to go through the pain of watching him go back to his own Kingdom where she couldn't hope to go after him. At least not yet…

"Then we should definitely get ready," Nikki said, also frowning as she saw the sorrowful look darkening Trinity's face. "Oberon is already probably going to be pissed off as it is with Puck running off with us to look for Cat without permission, and Trinity might not be his daughter or anything but she's still part of the court and he'll use that to give her grief, too."

"Hell," said Puck suddenly, having come back from his brief quarrel with Ash over the broken fruit bowl in time to hear the end of the conversation, "If Lord Pointy Ears isn't used to me breaking rules every other day of the year he's going to be in for a really sad reminder when we get back. He's known me for centuries and it's high time he learned what a right pain in the ass I can be. One would think he'd have taken the hint when he exiled me."

"He exiled you?" Nikki gaped at him. "How the hell does that work? You're still here!"

"It was years ago," sighed Ash, also coming up and giving Puck an amused look. "The idiot followed Meghan and I into the human world when we'd been exiled by Mab and Oberon for being in love and he got himself kicked out, too. Moron."

Puck grinned and stuck his tongue out at Ash. "What were the two of you supposed to do without me, ice-boy? You don't know how to have fun and someone had to show you how to live it up in the human world. Besides, it wasn't like Oberon wasn't eventually going to cave and ask me to come back. Centuries of being his right hand and you think he can easily find a replacement? I don't think so."

"Because you're one of a kind," said Nikki with a smirk.

"You can bet your ass I am," said Puck pompously, hands on his hips. "I am the one and only Robin Goodfellow."

"You know," said Catherine idly, looking up in amusement at Puck, "Whenever he says that, he makes me think of a certain pirate we all know and love."

Nikki and Trinity turned to her with identical looks of glee and as one they quoted,

"You will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!"

They dissolved into a fit of hysterical giggles while Puck and Ash merely stared at them, though Meghan—having heard—also broke into laughter, much to the confusion of Glitch and Tertius as they stood beside her, exchanging bewildered looks.

"Women," said Puck, shaking his head in dismay. "I'll never understand them."

"You never should," Ash muttered back.

They made preparations to leave immediately, gathering a few necessary herbs from Spindle, who—despite her insistence that she was happy to finally have her hut back to herself—couldn't quite hide a few tears as she shoved a pouch of medicine into Catherine's hands. No one was stupid enough to call the healer out on her true feelings, but Nikki at least had the sense to promise Spindle they'd be back eventually, and not to get too used to being alone. Spindle merely snorted in reply as she stood at her cauldron, though they all caught the faintest smile on the goblin healer's face as they stepped out of the hut, calling farewell to her with Demon the last to leave as he thanked Spindle her assistance and healing.

"I almost feel guilty leaving," Nikki sighed when everyone was gathered outside, pulling her rucksack more firmly over her shoulder, frowning as she looked back at Spindle's hut. "She probably doesn't have many people stay for so long. I bet she gets lonely."

"We'll be back," said Puck reassuringly, smiling down at her. "We'll have to be. After the smack down I'm sure to get from Lord Pointy Ears I'm going to need a place to rest up for a few days before I can have a hope of walking again. I'll be lucky if he doesn't break my legs."

"I think you'll be fine, Goodfellow," said Ash with a roll of his eyes as they started off, all of them heading easterly. "And you should consider yourself lucky if that's all Oberon does to you after this kind of insubordination."

"Your concern is so touching, princeling," Puck grimaced at the Prince, who narrowed his silver eyes dangerously. "I'll be sure to remember that if you go and get yourself landed in some kind of shit pile, and I'll laugh about it, too, and not feel sorry for you in the least."

"It's exactly that kind of attitude that makes him so apathetic to your pain in the first place, you know," Nikki told him with a sigh as they walked slowly through the trees, the sun dangling in the sky just behind them, not quite sure if she was ready to set on them yet or not.

"If he were really my friend," Puck said, dramatically sorrowful.

"Which I'm not," Ash said with a wry smirk.

Puck ignored him and went on, "If he really were my friend and cared about me, he'd worry about what's going to happen to me when we get to Arcadia, and he'd hold my hand and tell me I'd be okay!"

"You are _such _a wuss," sighed Nikki, shaking her head in disbelief, then paused as something occurred to her. "Hey, are we forgetting anything?"

"Grimalkin," said Demon casually from where he had paused beside Catherine, looking back over his shoulder at Nikki. "He stayed at Spindle's. I wouldn't worry about him."

"I'd wondered why it was so quiet," said Puck thoughtfully, looking around. "Well, can't say I'll miss the Furball, since he's bound to show up again when I least want him around."

"You're right," said Trinity, rolling her eyes. "He'll probably pop up halfway back to Arcadia saying we owe him a favor of some kind and that's the only reason he's there in the first place."

Puck made a face. "That would be just like the little bastard, too," he muttered, causing Nikki to giggle as they started walking again. "Alright, then. We've got everything else important, right? Food, clothing? All of our undergarments are in their respective places?"

"You really need to shut up sometimes," Trinity told him with a weary sigh. "Why is it any of your business if we're wearing our underwear properly?"

"Just ignore him," Ash advised her. "He's only vying for attention."

"Hey! It's a serious question," Puck said, affronted. "If someone's going to get cranky because they happened to wear their skivvies backwards and they're riding up in unpleasant places then I would at least like some forewarning about it!"

"Puck," sighed Nikki, reaching up to poke the faery smartly in the cheek so he yelped and smacked at her hand. "Shut up, before I do something unpleasant with your underwear that will make walking very, very uncomfortable."

Puck was rubbing his cheek as he gaped at her, looking stunned. "Did you just threaten to give me a wedgie?" he demanded, sounding absolutely aghast as he strode alongside her, and she cast him a very malicious smirk that had him scurrying for cover behind Glitch. "You _did!_"

"Just keep your yap shut and your panties will stay where they ought to, Goodfellow," sighed Glitch, smirking as he shrugged out of Puck's grip.

"I don't wear panties!" snapped Puck, casting a rather annoyed look at the Iron fey.

"TMI," said Glitch, wrinkling his nose as he walked faster to catch up to Ash and Meghan, leaving Puck to give him a very dirty look behind his back.

"I didn't say I go free bird either, you sick minded metal head!" Puck called after the fey, who waved idly over his shoulder, not really paying any attention. "That little bastard…"

"Just let it go, dear," sighed Nikki, sidling up to loop her arm through Puck's and patting his hand. "It's not worth fussing over him. It's what he wants. He's just as much into getting attention as you are. It's a trait you share, unfortunately."

"But I'm way better at getting attention than he is," sniffed Puck. "And I'm way better looking."

"Totally better looking," agreed Nikki with a sly wink up at him. "But lets him let him believe he's special."

"He is special," Puck muttered to her under his breath, emerald eyes glinting with laughter, "If you catch my drift."

"That's just mean, Puck," Nikki chastised him, but she was laughing.

Behind her, Trinity was following a little more slowly behind the rest of the group, her eyes on her feet as she walked, though she wasn't actually paying attention to where she was going. So her eyes did see the large rock protruding from the ground in front of her, just her mind didn't comprehend the need to step around or over it, so she caught her toe on the edge and tripped forward with a gasp, her eyes wide as the ground rushed up to meet her, only to stop five inches away as strong arms caught her from behind. She breathed deeply; adrenaline pumping as the person gently lifted her upright.

"You alright?"

She turned to find Tertius looking down at her, his hands still firmly on her waist, his fair face line with concern as his silver eyes ran over her.

"Fine," she stammered out, a little breathlessly. "Just…kind of out of it right now…"

He frowned at her as she slipped out of his hold, clearing her throat and starting to walk again. He slowly followed, falling into step beside her as they continued to trail the rest of the group.

"You seem worried about something," he murmured after some minutes of silence between them.

"Hm?" She looked up, surprised. "Oh, yeah…a little…"

"About what?" he asked curiously, glancing over at her. She felt that his silver eyes saw too much and quickly dropped her gaze to the ground, feeling her heart give a strange little thrum in her chest.

"Um," she mumbled, not really sure what to say. She eventually settled for, "Nothing really important…"

"Hmm."

She flinched at the inflection in the sound he made, sensing that he didn't quite believe her on the issue, and prayed he wouldn't press it further, though she should have guessed that would be a stupid thing to pray for.

"Is it about Catherine?" he asked. "Are you worried Lord Oberon won't let her stay in Arcadia?"

"…No," she mumbled, shaking her head. "Well, a little but…that's not really what I'm thinking about. I don't think Cat will mind if Oberon doesn't let her stay in Arcadia. She's looking for her dad, after all, so she'll be going places with Demon. Staying in one place isn't really going to help her do that."

"Then what is bothering you?" Tertius prompted her in his soft voice. "Is it anything I can help with?"

Why did he have to be so damn helpful? It just wasn't fair… And it especially wasn't fair that the one guy she happened to meet after nearly twenty years of feeling like the odd girl out had to be the one guy she probably didn't have a chance in hell of staying with. That was just so typical…so cliché.

"I don't know if you can really help," she mumbled. "It's just something stupid I'm going to have to deal with…you shouldn't worry about it."

"But I do worry about it," murmured Tertius, and his tone was so gentle that she had to look at him, and immediately wished she hadn't as his silver eyes pierced her to her very soul. He gave a small smile, but it didn't touch his eyes, which gave her a look that was almost reprimanding. "I thought we talked about how doing something by yourself isn't always the answer," he told her, sounding disapproving.

"We did," she muttered, looking away. "That's not…I mean…it's no big deal…"

"You might believe that, but your eyes are telling me something else," he murmured.

"And what are they telling you, exactly?" she asked, finally losing her temper a little and turning on him with blazing eyes openly glaring at him. "What can you see so well that I can't apparently see for myself?"

"That you're scared," he said quietly, not flinching away under her venomous stare. "You're scared and you don't know what to do about it. You don't want to talk about it because you're afraid of looking weak, but you're afraid to keep to yourself because you feel like you'll fall apart."

Trinity didn't know what to say to him now, and felt childish as the bravado from her momentary flare of anger seeped away, leaving her ashamed and staring at the ground while Tertius stood next to her, both of them having stopped while the rest of the group drew farther ahead.

"I told you before," Tertius murmured, his tone softening, and he reached up to touch her cheek, "It's not a sin to ask for help, and no one would think less of you if you did."

"You would," she mumbled, feeling tears burning in her eyes at the soft brush of his hand on her skin and biting her tongue to keep them back.

"I wouldn't," he denied very quietly. "Do you really think so little of me that you think I'd laugh at your concerns? I thought you might know me better than that even after a few days…"

She did know him better than that she thought, closing her eyes to keep back the tears and subconsciously leaning into his touch. Even after just under a week she knew him better than to think he would laugh at her if she came to him with her concerns. He wasn't that kind of guy. He never had been and he probably never would be, so what was holding her back from opening up to him about something that was very real and terrifying to her? Other than the fact that it was about him and her feelings for him, what was stopping her? Well, she thought bitterly, there was that one bit where confessing to him could shatter their tenuous friendship, and even if it didn't and he somehow—miraculously—returned her feelings there was that other bigger issue of them being from separate courts and how Oberon would probably never let her set foot in the Iron Kingdom to see him again, and would be even less inclined to let Tertius see her in Summer. Yeah…that was what it was…

"I believe we also had this discussion about how ignoring me doesn't help matters," Tertius murmured softly, his tone very lightly amused, but still soft and serious as she opened her blue eyes to gaze up at his handsome face.

The late sunlight was filtering through the trees, slanting sideways to catch at his silvery eyes, turning them iridescent and shimmering, some places even turning bronze as she stared into them. She loved his eyes, even when they made her feel like he could see every thought running through her head and knew exactly what she was thinking or feeling without her having to say a word. But she'd have to say something, because he wouldn't let her get away with it if she didn't.

So, taking a very deep breath, and bracing herself for the very worst case scenario, she closed her eyes again and murmured feebly,

"I don't want you to go back to the Iron Kingdom…I…I'm afraid I won't see you again, and before you ask why it matters if I see you again, I'm going to go ahead and tell you it's because…because I…like you…_Really_ like you…"

She opened her eyes again, willing herself not to flinch away from his unfathomable silver gaze.

"I like you, Tertius," she whispered, having never felt so vulnerable in her entire life than in the moment that she was standing there, staring up at him, waiting for him to respond.

At first he didn't speak at all, and Trinity felt her heart begin to race against the clock as her mind told her that he wouldn't answer. He wouldn't speak and he would simply walk away without a backwards glance, but she should have known better than that. Tertius wasn't one to just turn his back because it suited him…

Instead of shunning her, dropping his hand and marching away to join his Queen and Prince, the Iron knight let the smallest of smiles touch his face, but it was filled with all the warmth of a summer's day, and his eyes melted into that molten silver color she was beginning to love so much, and he brushed his fingers gently across her face as he sighed.

"That's what you're scared of," he murmured. It wasn't a question.

"It is," she mumbled.

"You're not the only one who has fears like that, you know," he told her softly. "I have this terrifying idea in my mind that this beautiful girl I know will get back to Arcadia, where she is a lady at court, and decide she wants nothing to do with the silly affections of a knight in the Iron Queen's Kingdom, and disappear forever inside of the Summer Court to be sought after by the other lords of her domain."

"I don't think she'd do that," murmured Trinity as her heart tripped over itself in her chest, stuttering so she felt breathless staring up into Tertius's glowing silver eyes. "I think she likes the knight too much…"

"Does she?" the Iron knight murmured back, lowering his hand to link it with hers, lifting it to his lips to press a kiss to the center of her palm. "I think he would be very glad to know that…"

Trinity felt a weak smile appear on her face in spite of herself, and Tertius smiled right back in that almost blinding way of his so she felt her mind spin dizzyingly as she leaned forward to rest her forehead gently on his chest, hearing the soft clink of his armor.

"They should totally have eloped when they had the chance," she muttered, and felt him shake with silent laughter as he kept possession of her hand in his, holding it to his lips.

"Maybe they still will," he murmured softly. "Just not so quickly. I think the knight would like the chance to properly court the lady first."

"The lady would really like that," Trinity sighed, closing her eyes before a tear could escape down her face. "So long as she can get away from the overbearing King of the Summer Court every now and then."

"She is smart," Tertius said. "She will find a way."

"Damn straight she will," agreed Trinity, causing Tertius to chuckle softly in his throat. Sighing regretfully, she straightened up and looked around as she heard Nikki call out her name anxiously. "That would be the search party just noticing we fell behind."

"Indeed," sighed Tertius, and they looked at each other, not speaking for a moment. Then the Iron fey smiled very softly and leaned forward to touch his lips to forehead.

She felt heat curl from her cheeks down to her toes, just as before in the morning, and breathed a quiet sigh as she closed her eyes, letting the feeling seep into her like warm honey.

"I'll write to you," he whispered against her forehead, lifting his free hand to brush her hair from her face, cupping her cheek.

"I'll write back," she promised under her breath, listening to the footfalls of their troupe coming closer to them. "But I should warn you, my writing is absolutely horrible."

Tertius laughed softly and pulled back to smile down at her. His eyes still glowed luminously in the setting sun, and she felt her heart do that funny twisting thing it was so keen on doing when he was around as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before slowly allowing their fingers to untangle and drop back to their sides just as Nikki came dashing over the hill, gasping and out of breath.

"Jeez!" the girl exclaimed, staring at them. "What's keeping you guys? Demon suddenly stopped walking a bit ago and said we should wait on you and we thought you'd gone running off on your own again!"

"Sorry," apologized Trinity, not quite able to meet her friend's eyes. "Just got help up talking."

Nikki's eyes flickered thoughtfully between the two fey, noticing how closely they stood, though they weren't touching, and the way Tertius's eyes kept sliding back to look at Trinity's face, and how the girl, in turn, would occasionally glance up with bright blue eyes.

"Ah," she said quietly, understanding. "Right…well, um…the others are about to come back, too, and Ash is kind of annoyed, so we need to go."

She said it apologetically, wishing she could give them more time, but knowing that wasn't quite her place.

"Sorry," she added when Trinity looked up at her.

"It's okay," Trinity sighed, and looked up at Tertius with a faint smile. "We're okay now, right?"

He nodded silently, offering a smile of his own, and they began to walk towards Nikki, who was frowning uncertainly between them, and caught Trinity's arm as her friend made to pass her.

Locking gazes, Nikki gave her friend a pointed look, then glanced curiously over at Tertius, who paused only for a moment before walking ahead a few steps to where the rest of the group was convening at the bottom of the small slope.

"I'll tell you later," Trinity promised softly, speaking in an undertone.

Nikki eyed her friend for a long moment, then nodded once and let go of her arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked, and Trinity nodded, feeling glad that she could tell her friend the truth.

Nikki seemed relieved as well to see her friend looking a little more cheered than they had been when they'd set out, and they walked together down the hill to where the others were waiting. They walked to Cat, who was standing to the side with Demon, and when Trinity came up to the girl she received a similar treatment. The same questioning gaze and pointed look in Tertius's direction as the knight apologized quietly to Ash for holding them up.

Trinity smiled and murmured, "I promise to tell you guys later."

Catherine nodded once, smiling softly. "And you're okay?" she asked.

Trinity thought it over for a moment, glancing back to see Tertius watching her through glowing silver eyes, not quite listening to what Ash was saying to him, and smiled as she turned back to Catherine.

"I'm great," she said earnestly.

Demon glanced up from his spot on the ground to eye the three half humans clustered around him, and gave a small sigh of resignation to see them smiling at each other with that secretive little gleam in their eyes that he was starting to dread. Women, he thought idly, watching as Ash gave Tertius one more serious look to which the knight inclined his head with a murmured apology. They really were such strange creatures…especially when you got the human variety.

"Alright," sighed Ash, having finished his mini lecture to Tertius and turning to face the rest of the group, "Unfortunately, this is where Meghan and I leave."

"Already?" Nikki stared at him. "That was fast. We weren't even walking half an hour!"

"There's a trod close by that leads into the Iron Kingdom," Meghan explained with a sad little smile, "So we're making a detour to it and going home from there. Don't worry, though, you haven't seen the last of us."

"Way to make it sound like a threat, princess," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes, though his expression was a little saddened as he looked between her and Ash. "You could have at least gone for the Terminator effect: Ah'll be bahck!"

Nikki rolled her eyes as Puck waved his hands menacingly at Meghan and Ash, and Glitch sighed hugely in exasperation.

"You're doing it all wrong you know," the Iron fey told Puck coolly. "Schwarzenegger had a much deeper voice than that."

"Then you do it, you're so much better at imitations," sniffed Puck indignantly.

"I'm smart enough not to embarrass myself," Glitch said with a smirk.

"You mean you're a little chicken shit is what you're trying to say," Puck replied with a dark smile.

"Alright, kids, break it up," said Meghan, laughing as Glitch growled a challenge and stiffened his shoulders. "We've got to go, really. I know we'll end up seeing each other again, because Elysium is coming up in a few weeks and—even though neither Mab nor Oberon really like us being there—Ash and I managed to convince them that we are as much a part of the treaty signings as they are so we're required to be there, too."

"Where is it happening this time?" Nikki asked, frowning. "I remember Puck mentioning it earlier but he never said which court was going to host it this time around."

"The Summer Court," Ash said, glancing at Puck for confirmation.

"Which means you get to be there," said Puck cheerfully to Nikki. "Otherwise you'd probably be staying home while I went with Lord Pointy Ears as his comic relief while he signed treaties with Mab and all the rest of it."

"Joy," said Nikki sarcastically. "I always wanted to dance around like a fool while Mab and Oberon try not to tear each other's throats out."

"It really is something worth watching," Puck snickered. "They'll sit there like they've got totem poles shoved up their—"

Nikki gave him a pointed look, cutting him off, and he smiled impishly at her as he cleared his throat and went on,

"Well, you get the point. They don't like it, but they put up with it anyway. The last one actually wasn't so bad, but I think that's because Mab and Lord Pointy ears both knew that if they started an argument that the great Iron Queen would whoop both their hides."

"Of course I wouldn't," sighed Meghan, rolling her eyes. "But at least me being their helps them behave a little better than they used to."

"I remember one Elysium," Ash said then, his tone mockingly thoughtful as he cast a look at Meghan, his lips curling at the corners, "Where there was this really interesting little Summer Princess… The funniest thing, she kept telling me she couldn't dance."

"Ash," Meghan said, her tone warning as she turned a glare on her Prince and husband, "So help me, I will sentence you to the couch if you keep on."

Ash flashed her a devious smile and curled an arm around her waist, placing a kiss on her cheek while she muttered under her breath.

"You guys are too cute," sighed Nikki, shaking her head and grinning at the pair of Monarchs.

"Don't encourage him," Meghan told her, still glaring half heartedly up at Ash as he pressed kisses to the top of her head. "He already thinks he's got enough charm to enthrall an entire Kingdom and the idiots let him believe it."

"Because it's true," he murmured against her temple.

"Tch," snorted Meghan, rolling her blue eyes. "And I thought you wanted to get home, your Princeliness, or aren't we in a hurry?"

"I am definitely in a hurry," Ash said in a low voice, causing Puck to grimace as he was forced to watch Ash give Meghan a look that was better reserved for private quarters.

"Please," the Summer faery said, "Just go, before he does something totally indecent and scars my virgin eyes for life."

"Because your eyes are so innocent," scoffed Nikki disbelievingly as Ash cast his rival a dirty look.

"They are," sniffed Puck, and gave her his best puppy dog look so she had to laugh at him as Meghan sighed and shook her head in amusement.

"Well, we should be going," the Iron Queen said, taking Ash by the hand. "It was wonderful to meet you all, and we'll be seeing you again in a few weeks."

"I look forward to it," said Trinity with a smile, though her eyes were on Tertius.

"It was great to meet you," Catherine said to Ash and Meghan as they passed, and Meghan smiled at her.

"You, too," the Queen said earnestly. "I'm glad you managed to get back to Nikki and Trinity safely."

"Believe me, so am I," sighed Catherine with a smile.

Meghan beamed at her, then turned to Trinity, who looked away from Tertius in time to offer a smile to the girl.

"We'll see you in a few weeks, then," she said.

"Definitely," said Meghan, then, glancing at Ash to make sure he was busy talking to Puck about something or other—it sounded like another duel in the making—she leaned forward and whispered, "And we'll bring Tertius."

Trinity stared at the Queen, who winked slyly and grinned before turning to Ash.

"Ready?" Ash asked, and when Meghan nodded the two of them began to move away with Glitch and Tertius trailing behind them.

Tertius glanced at Trinity as he passed and smiled at her when she blinked up at him. Then he was past her, following his Queen and Prince, disappearing rapidly into the surrounding trees until none of the four Iron fey could be seen through the dense coverage, and even their footsteps faded away. Leaving Puck and the others behind in the setting sun.

"Well," sighed Puck after a moment, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking at the remaining four in his group, three girls and a cat, "We should get going, too. There's a trod to Arcadia nearby, but it's still about an hour's walk from here and I don't think we want to be wandering around when the moon comes up."

"Right," sighed Nikki, nodding and stepping towards him. "Lead on then, good sir, and don't get us lost in the process, or maimed, or put in harm's way, or killed, or captured. Not necessarily in that order."

"Really?" Puck demanded, staring at her. "You really think I would do any of those things? Regardless of their designated order?"

"Not on purpose, you wouldn't," said Nikki, shrugging and grinning at him. "Just saying…_don't_. Not even on accident."

"And if he does it on accident, how he supposed to keep it from happening in the first place?" asked Catherine in amusement.

"I don't know, that's his problem," said Nikki indifferently, much to Puck's chagrin.

"You're a mean little thing, you know that?" he asked her, bright green eyes narrowed to slits as he began walking east again, hands deep in his pockets, occasionally kicking at a nearby stone or pinecone if it happened to be in his path. "Alright, let's get on with it. The sooner we get to Arcadia, the sooner I can strangle you on my own terms."

"Before or after Oberon breaks your legs?" Nikki asked with a giggle.

"I am not answering that question," Puck said indignantly, which only made Nikki giggle harder.

"I'd hope it'd be after," Nikki said thoughtfully as they walked along, "Because then it'll be harder for you to grab my neck from the ground, and you won't be able to stand up."

"I am so totally strangling you once we get back to Arcadia," grumbled Puck while Trinity and Catherine followed behind, Demon trotting along at the very rear of the troupe. "Just you wait, you'll see."

"I'm sure I'll see a lot," Nikki told him with a smirk. "I have eyes, you know. That's what they're there for. Seeing things and stuff."

"You're such a little smart ass," sighed Puck, giving her a sideways glare. "How is it I let you get away with all this crap? No one else can _ever _get away with this when it's with me!"

"That's because I'm special," Nikki chimed happily, looking back at Trinity and Catherine and grinning when they rolled their eyes at her, "My daddy told me so."

"Well, he wasn't wrong," muttered Puck.

"Hey!" Nikki aimed a kick at him that he nimbly dodged, laughing as she glared, then cursed as he tripped backwards over a stone that had conveniently chosen to move into his path and landed hard on his butt.

Swearing colorfully and kicking at the stone so it rolled over and over until its scaly legs were waving uselessly in the air, Puck leapt back to his feet to fix a vengeful look on Nikki as the girl doubled over laughing.

"Oh, you're in for it now," he growled at her, advancing on her, lifting a hand to crook a finger, "Come here, you pretty thing, you. I need to teach you some manners."

Still laughing, Nikki dove behind Catherine, using her friend as a shield as Puck came stomping over, laughter in his eyes even as he continued to glare menacingly down at her.

"Why are you hiding behind _me_?" demanded Catherine, laughing at her friend as she looked over her shoulder to watch Nikki crouch behind her, hugging her around the knees.

"Because," Nikki giggled, "Tri would just step out of the way and let him have his way with me. You'll protect me. You love me, right?"

"Yeah, I do, but I'm not about to get in the way of Robin Goodfellow and his designated target," Catherine laughed, trying to step out of her friend's grip without much success. Nikki was locked on and not about to let go.

"Smart girl," Puck told her, stepping around her to where Nikki was crouched. "Now, Nikki, darling child, let go of the nice Cait Sith and come take what's coming to you."

"No!" squealed Nikki, yanking Catherine in front of her again as Puck leaned down in an attempt to grab her. "You'll never take me alive!"

"So much for being in a hurry," muttered Trinity, though she was grinning as she sat herself down beside Demon to watch the fun play out.

The Cait Sith snorted and rolled his yellow-green eyes, his tail tip twitching. "As far as I remember, the verb 'hurry' can never be put in a constructive sentence with 'Robin Goodfellow' as the subject. He never hurries."

"I'll remember that," chuckled Trinity as she watched Puck finally get a hold of one of Nikki's legs and start trying to tug the girl away from Catherine, who was laughing openly as her friend held on desperately to her knees.

Trinity and Demon watched in silent amusement for a while. Puck finally managed to get a hold of Nikki for all of five seconds before she managed to escape his clutches and hide behind Cat—_again_—and Puck eventually gave up the whole thing as a bad job and threw himself down in the grass, glaring with malevolent promise as the dryad gasped and laughed, her cheeks hurting from smiling so much, and Cat stood between the two, looking wearily entertained.

"You and the Iron Knight," Demon murmured softly, catching Trinity's attention, "I know it isn't any of my business, really, but I feel the need to say it anyway. I know what you feel for each other now, and I imagine that those kinds of feelings won't go away soon, if ever, but you need to be prepared for the trials that will be presented to you as you struggle to reach him. The power of the courts is stronger than you might like to think, and though you may want to tell me you and the boy don't plan on having any real history in the future, I can assure you that you would be ignorant to say such a thing. Just remember, when the time comes, you both will be tested, and only by trusting in yourself and in each other will you be able to make it through."

Trinity's blue eyes were wide with amazement as she gazed down at the large black cat, who did not look once at her as he tucked his paws beneath him and settled down in the grass, gazing straight ahead of him without really seeing.

"Why does it matter to you?" she asked softly after a while, and Demon twitched an ear. "I mean…it's just him and I…why would you bother saying that to me? Do you really care what happens?"

"Not particularly," Demon replied idly. "But Catherine does…She wishes you happiness past all boundaries. I can see it in the way she looks at both you and Nicolette. You mean the world to her, and she wouldn't be able to take it if your happiness was barred from you."

"And why does what Cat feels matter to you?" Trinity asked, her cerulean eyes narrowing. She thought she already knew the answer before Demon spoke, but she wanted to hear him say it himself.

"It matters," Demon murmured after a long moment of gazing thoughtfully to where Catherine was rolling her eyes at Nikki, "Because she matters."

Trinity blinked down at the feline, who still did not once look in her direction, and felt a small smile come across her face as she lifted her gaze to her two friends, who were now giggling as Puck threw himself dramatically to the ground, arms over his face, complaining about how women didn't fight fair.

"You're a good guy, Demon," she murmured softly. "…Thanks for looking out for Cat…"

Demon didn't respond, but twitched the tip of his tail and continued to watch the small band of friends as night slowly descended, forcing Puck to admit a solid defeat and set up temporary camp for the night, deciding they would look for the trod in the morning—assuming the sun decided to come up and help them find it, that was. As they bunkered down for the night, with Puck and Nikki curled a little closer together than usual on their bedrolls and Demon settling up against Catherine's stomach as was his usual place of preference for sleep, Trinity sighed and snuggled down under the blanket on her own bedroll, turning onto her side, gazing at her friends as they started to drift to sleep.

"Night guys," she called softly to them.

"Night, Tri," Nikki called back.

"G'night, Tri," yawned Catherine.

"Night all," Puck said sleepily. "Get what beauty rest you can. Tomorrow's an early start."

"As usual," said Nikki with a weary smile as her eyes fluttered shut.

Trinity smiled and rolled away from her friends, gazing into the depths of the forest, listening to the quiet murmurs of the dryads around them, vaguely wondering how many of them might be related to Nikki, and let her blue eyes close and fill with the image of a dark haired knight with silver eyes as he smiled at her just before disappearing into the shadows, back to his own Kingdom to wait for her. Half asleep, Trinity smiled to herself and curled up tightly beneath her blankets with a small sigh of contentment, already drifting in dreams where her knight waited to greet her with glittering silver eyes and open arms.

On the other side of the clearing, Puck and Nikki were curled up on their sides facing each other, fingertips linked as they fell asleep, Puck letting his eyes flutter open once to look at the sleeping girl before smiling to himself and nuzzling closer, finally dropping off to sleep himself. Demon purred quietly as he dozed curled in the curve of Catherine's stomach, and Catherine idly drew her fingers across his black fur, gazing unseeingly into the woods, not in the least bit tired as she watched the shadows flicker and undulate in the moonlight. Occasionally she would see the shape of some fey move through her field of vision, but she was not afraid of what lay in wait in the wyldwood. She had long since discovered there were much scarier things than what hid in the shadows of the forests, and not all of those things happened to make their homes in the wild. Sometimes the real monsters hid in ivory towers and stone castles.

Sighing to herself, she glanced down at Demon, who was not quite asleep but steadily getting there as lay beside her, and frowned as she looked around to see everyone else fast asleep. She had been afraid this would happen… Since waking up that morning, feeling more rested than she had in a week, she had felt a stirring of discomfort deep in her gut, and she had somehow known this would happen. That she would not be able to sleep as easily as she had for the past five days under the influence of nightshade. It was for that very reason that she had taken the time to speak to Old Spindle before they left, and that very reason that she now gently sat up, rolling away from Demon and trying her best not to disturb him, and reached back to grab her rucksack, unzipping it and rummaging briefly around until she felt a cool vial touch her fingers. Withdrawing her selected item from the depths of the book bag, she held the tiny vial of nightshade up to her eyes and felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach.

She hadn't wanted it to be like this, but apparently sleep was something she couldn't achieve on her own anymore… The knowledge of why that was made her shiver slightly, though there was no cold to cause the chill, and she resigned herself to uncorking the vial just as Demon picked his head up from the blankets to peer sleepily at her through the darkness.

"What are you doing, Catherine?" he asked quietly, though he already knew from the moment he set eyes on the swirling midnight blue concoction in her hand.

Catherine sighed, almost inaudibly, and turned sad eyes on him.

"I can't sleep on my own anymore, Demon," she whispered, and he could hear the pain in her voice as she made the admission. "I thought I could, but I asked Spindle to make this just in case and…it turns out I was right… I need it."

Demon watched the girl for a long moment, his expression carefully blank, though his yellow-green eyes shone eerily through the darkness as she turned the vial slowly in her hands, then, with a sharp breath, lifted it to her lips and knocked it back in one gulp. Lowering the vial, her eyes immediately heavy, Catherine wiped a sleeve across her mouth as the familiar sweetness filled her mouth and exhaustion crashed down on her like a ten ton weight.

Carefully replacing the stopper in the vial and placing it back in her book bag, Catherine laid back down beside Demon, who narrowed his eyes at her.

"Please don't ask, Demon," she whispered when he looked ready to question her. "I just can't talk about it right now…"

Demon blinked once at the girl as she fell further and further away into sleep, then lowered his head slowly onto his paws to watch her, murmuring softly,

"I understand… Sleep now, I will be watching over you."

His words sounded slightly hazy as Catherine's eyes finally closed, and she drifted in a world of blackness, and the woods around her and the others hummed quietly as the night creatures of the faery woods prowled around them, keeping watch over the travelers as the moon danced lazily through the sky.


	14. Chapter 14

Midnight. Late. And he was still awake. Glitch would probably give him grief for this in the morning during their sparring session, but that wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to him, so really he wasn't worried. Glitch could do a whole lot worse to him than mouth off about how a proper knight of the Iron Kingdom didn't stay up past all hours of the night and day, sitting uselessly at his desk, staring at the same blank sheet of paper without the faintest idea what to write on it. Not that he needed to be reminded on what a 'proper knight' was supposed to or not supposed to do. After all, Tertius felt he was much more qualified in the knowhow of knighthood than Glitch would ever be. He'd spent the past hundred years of his existence as a knight to the Iron Monarchy—both the good branches and the bad—and he'd have a few choice words to say to Glitch if the man decided to bring up the knight's code. Glitch may have it memorized down to an exact page number, but Tertius could cite perfectly what page number, what paragraph and what line it came from. Glitch could uppity if he wanted, but it wouldn't carry him very far…

Tertius heaved a sigh, gazing almost blindly down at the white sheet of paper in front of him, one hand propping up his head, the other tapping a pen rapidly against his desk so a constant ticking sound filled the otherwise silent room of his chambers. He'd been sitting here since he and the others had returned to Iron Kingdom, and that had been nearly five hours ago. Not only was it beyond frustrating that he had yet to consider a single then to pen out, it was utterly pathetic that he—a man usually never lost for words no matter the situation—couldn't think of one little word to start the letter he had promised he would to Trinity. It went beyond pathetic.

Groaning, he tossed the pen down and leaned back in his seat, hands over his face. This was getting more and more tiresome by the minute, but he had sworn to Trinity and to himself that he would write her a letter, and he intended to do just that. But how did one go about writing a letter when they had nothing to write _about_. Certainly, he'd considered the overly cliché 'Roses are red, violets are blue' spiel, but somehow he felt that wasn't quite what Trinity was looking for from him, and he wasn't about to treat her like some dime a dozen princess in a bad romance novel. He had also considered a long hand epic about how she shouldn't worry about their time apart because he would never waver, but that sounded like something he'd read in one of Shakespeare's works and he wasn't keen on it, either. He had thought at one point earlier in the knight to consult Ash and ask the Prince's opinion on what a girl like Trinity would appreciate in a letter, but had stopped himself before he could even get out the door on that. The last thing he needed to do was alert his Prince to the fact he was penning love letters to a girl that he shouldn't have even looked twice at given their respective court loyalties.

Ash may not be one to throttle him for his affections for Trinity—especially considering the Prince had broken all boundaries just by falling in love with the girl he was happily married to—but Tertius wasn't foolish enough think that Ash would let him carry on as he was. He might give him a sympathetic frown and say he wished he could help, but that it would be in Tertius's best interests to just drop the whole thing and forget it. Yes, that was just the kind of thing that Ash would say… Tertius had also thought about talking to Meghan, since he figured if anyone was clued in on the issue and would be willing to help it would be the Queen, but he had cut himself off there, too. Whatever the Queen knew, Ash knew as a result, and he wasn't about to let his Monarchs squabble among themselves over something as silly as his love interests. Besides, he didn't think he could handle it if Meghan decided to go cooing over how adorable it was that he had finally found a girl suitable for him after so many years being the odd man out. Glitch would have a field day with that, and Tertius didn't want his sparring sessions with the other knight to turn into death matches because Glitch ended up crossing a line and setting off his temper.

So…with no one left to turn to, Tertius was left to his own imagination, and it seemed as though his very imagination was turning its nose up at him, and he had absolutely nothing to go on. Spectacular…

He groaned again, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and watching white stars dance and wink across his vision, along with a dull pain that abated when he lowered his hands to his lap and stared vaguely at the still shamefully white paper on his desk. It would have at least made him feel better if he'd started a few ideas and had to cross them out. That at least would have suggested progress. But, no, he had nothing. Nada. Zip. He was just so not cut out for this romance business…even Digit would have had a better time of writing a love epic than he was…and that was saying a lot for a tech elf.

He felt like there was a human saying for this kind of predicament…now, what was it…?

The bedroom door slammed open behind him, not even making him flinch, and Glitch's furious voice snapped from behind him,

"Fuck my _life_!"

Ah, yes…that was it.

"Hello, Glitch," sighed Tertius without looking around.

"What the _fuck _are you doing up this late?!" Glitch snapped at him, stomping over to glare down through enraged violet eyes at his comrade in arms, who didn't look up.

"I assumed since you came barging in like that that you had anticipated I would be awake," said Tertius dully, taking his pen back up and beginning to tap it rapidly against the desk, one hand lifted to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Or did you just come in with the idea that you'd wake me up to make me as miserable as you seem to be? Because that's totally unnecessary at this point."

"No, I didn't know you'd be up," said Glitch irritably, yanking the nearby stool that Tertius kept at the desk up to drop himself in it with a huff of annoyance. "Yes, I wanted to wake you up and make you be pissed off like me. Now, are you gonna ask why?"

"Do I want to?" inquired Tertius, closing his silver eyes and trying to drown out his comrade. It didn't work so splendidly as he would have hoped.

"Yeah, you do," said Glitch tersely.

"Alright," sighed Tertius, realizing he wasn't going to get any peace unless he heard Glitch out, and set down his pen before turning in his seat to raise both eyebrows at his companion. "What's so wrong with your life?"

"Ash got pissed off at me again," said Glitch predictably. Ash was always pissed off at him…

"And why was he pissed off at you?" asked Tertius wearily.

Glitch gave Tertius a slanty eyed look that had Tertius thinking unerringly of the Cait Sith Grimalkin and he had to try not to smirk.

"Don't go Dr. Phil on me, you punk," said Glitch in annoyance.

"I was just asking, Glitch," sighed Tertius, rolling his eyes. "Did you want me to ask you what was wrong or not?"

"I do," muttered his companion. "I just don't want you to talk to me like I'm five years old or mentally deranged when you do…"

"I'm sorry," apologized Tertius, trying to keep from snorting in derision. "I'll remember better now. So, why was the Prince upset with you?"

"Upset is the worst understatement you could make," sighed Glitch, slumping back against the wall behind him, arms folded over his chest as he glared across the room. "He yelled at me for a solid five minutes."

"About?" prompted Tertius, linking his fingers together in his lap and cocking an eyebrow.

"You," Glitch said with a snort. "And you're little disappearing act this morning with Lady Trinity. Ash was giving me hell about it because he apparently didn't get to finish giving me hell back at Spindle's this morning. He was swearing and yelling about what was he going to say to Oberon if it turned out that you and her had gone off and done something 'indecent' and of course I had to open my big mouth and ask about him and Queen Meghan and how they did almost the same thing and he yelled at me some more and said I needed to keep a better watch on you from here on out."

He turned to Tertius, his violet eyes narrowed to slits, and gave his companion a severe look.

"So," he said coolly, "Now that you've heard _why _I got bitched at and _why _I came busting in here, you wanna tell me what you and the Lady were doing at some early hour yesterday morning?"

"We didn't do what Ash accused us of, if that's what you're trying to ask me without directly saying the words," said Tertius tiredly, his silver eyes narrowing back at Glitch.

"I didn't say you did," Glitch said, putting his hands up. "Though I was wondering… You two disappeared and we didn't know how long you'd been gone together."

"Fifteen minutes, tops," said Tertius curtly.

Glitch gave him a thoughtful look. "Well, if you're in a rush, that's more than enough time to—"

"Glitch." Tertius glared. "I just told you I didn't touch Lady Trinity."

"Alright, alright, sorry," apologized the other Iron knight with a small grin. "Just making sure, man. Has to be asked. So, if you weren't off ravishing each other in the great unknown, what _were _you doing?"

"It is none of your business," said Tertius, stiffly turning away from Glitch, whose eyebrows shot up in interest.

"Isn't it?" he scoffed. "I just got chewed out because of it! It's totally my business to know why the hell I got the sharp end of the stick and you didn't!"

"Just because I didn't get the sharp end doesn't mean I didn't get the butt of it," muttered Tertius irritably, beginning to tap his pen fastidiously on the desk again, staring down in aggravation at the paper in front of him. Why couldn't he just glamour words onto the paper? That would be so much easier…

"Oh, you got beat, too, huh?" Glitch looked a little more relaxed to hear this. "What did Ash say to you?"

"Who said it was the Prince?"

"Then who? Queen Meghan?"

Tertius sighed in annoyance as he threw down his pen for the second time and turned to fix his partner with a dark glare.

"Glitch," he said dangerously, "While I am sympathetic to the fact you took the fall for me, I am in no mood to talk about this."

Glitch's eyebrows rose even higher at Tertius's uncharacteristic show of irritation and aggression, and he couldn't quite hide the broad smirk that curled his lips. Of course, that was a mistake considering the death glare he then received from Tertius as a result.

"You didn't touch Lady Trinity," he said slowly, deciding he'd rather ignore the warning bells going off in his head as he eyed Tertius through glowing violet eyes, "But something tells me you _wanted _to… Come on, Tertius, what's going on with you and her? Don't tell me I'm about to witness another legendary star crossed love in the making. I thought I'd had enough of that with the Prince and the Queen."

"You have got five seconds to leave," Tertius growled at the other knight, whose face lit up with glee and shock at once.

"You're in love with her!" Glitch couldn't help the laughter bubbling up inside him and gave a whoop as Tertius's eyes narrowed to furious silver slits. "Holy shit, Tertius! You've got to be kidding me!"

"Four," snarled Tertius, and Glitch rose to his feet, hands in the air, backing away slowly but still grinning hugely.

"Tertius, man, that's just a bad idea waiting to happen," Glitch said, shaking his head. "She's a Summer noble, you're an Iron knight. Somehow I don't think that's going to blow over too well with either Ash or Oberon if it ends up becoming an issue."

"Three," said Tertius in a biting voice, rising to his feet and stalking closer to his companion, who wasn't leaving the room fast enough.

But Glitch wasn't smiling now, and his face became a mask of seriousness as he faced his enraged comrade.

"Tertius, listen to me," he said, his voice pleading now as he held his ground in the doorway, despite Tertius towering over him with his silver eyes flashing with menace. "You know this won't end well! Besides, can't you at least stop to consider that maybe you're just having a phase? It happens all the time."

"Not for me, it doesn't," said Tertius in a deadly murmur.

"Then at least hear me out on this," said Glitch, looking desperately at the other knight, "No matter what the two of you might have in common, you guys will never have that chance together. The courts wouldn't allow it."

"Be glad the Prince didn't hear you say that," Tertius told him icily.

"That's not the point," said Glitch, getting frustrated. "Tertius, man, she's Summer, you're Iron. Not only that, she's nobility and you're…well, you're just a knight! Even if you two were part of the same court, it wouldn't work out! Nothing about you two is made for the other. I'm not trying to kill your happiness, but I'm telling you as your friend that it's safer and better for the both of you if you just let it go. Chances are, even if you're not having a phase, she is. She's only human after all and they don't hold onto their feelings forever."

"You seem pretty uneducated about human emotions for the time you've been serving the Queen," Tertius observed coldly, arms folded tightly across his chest, barely managing to keep from pulling his sword and sticking it right in Glitch's stomach.

"You're missing the point," said Glitch, truly annoyed now. "Tertius! You'd be risking more than just yours and Lady Trinity's lives and dignity. Think about what it would mean for Ash and Meghan, too. If it got out that one of their knights was consorting with a noble woman of Oberon's court—"

But he didn't get to say anything else before Tertius reached and shoved him out of the door, slamming it and bolting it before Glitch could gather himself.

"Tertius!" Glitch walked up and hammered on the door. "Hey! Dammit, Tertius, open the door!"

Tertius did not answer, and Glitch swore as he leveled a hard kick at the door, which didn't even tremble at the blow.

"Think of what it would do to her, Tertius!" he yelled through the door. "Even if you're ready to give up everything, do you think she is?!"

He waited for a minute to see if that would gage a reaction from the knight, but there was only stony silence from the room, and with a low oath he turned on his heel and stomped off down the hall, cursing everything that caught his eye. This was the stupidest thing, ever. Tertius was in love, and Glitch should have been happy for him. But when he had to take into account the fact that Glitch's chosen lady interest was probably the one person in the world that should have completely skipped Tertius's attention he couldn't really feel cheerful about it. Trinity was a great girl, sure, he had no problem with her. Just her court. Oberon would never accept a union between his General's only child and a knight from the Iron Kingdom. It went against everything the Summer and Winter courts had laid out in their laws centuries before the Iron Kingdom had come into existence.

The courts mixed on many issues, but love just wasn't one of them. Meghan and Ash had been damn lucky in their draw of Fate, because if they'd had any other draw they either would have ended up worst enemies for eternity or dead by either the hands of their parents or each other. Given what it was, though, they were married and bound for eternity as Queen and Consort of the Iron Kingdom. Sure, it was an inspiring love story to a lot of the fey in all three courts—or, at least in Summer and Iron, Winter just didn't do mushy gushy romance—but to think that another fey would be stupid enough to go along and try to forge his own path in love against every single odd in the world… It was just like Tertius, though. He always challenged the impossible, and he was always calm and collected about it, ready to face whatever was thrown at him.

But that wasn't the Tertius Glitch had just seen. The Tertius he had just faced had been furious, overflowing with passionate emotion, and that made him even more dangerous and possibly unstable. Emotions could be the undoing of one's entire being, and having seen Tertius's reactions to his attempted words of caution told Glitch more than enough about the knight's state of mind. He was totally smitten, and he wasn't about to sit by and hear a word against what he and Trinity might have together. Well, thought Glitch bitterly as he finally reached his room, that was just peachy. Just fucking grand.

"Fuck my life," he muttered as he slammed through his bedroom door, throwing his cloak to the floor and kicking his boots off before throwing himself forcefully on his bed, staring up at the nondescript stony ceiling above him. "Just fuck it…"

He should tell Ash, he thought as he lay with his violet eyes fixed on the ceiling. It wouldn't be safe to let Tertius go on like this, and Elysium was in a few weeks. Meghan had already told Ash that she wanted to bring Tertius with them, though she hadn't exactly said why. Tertius had never cared to go in the past couple of years that the Iron Kingdom had been permitted to take part in the festivities and signing of treaties, but when they had returned today and Meghan had asked if Tertius would like to accompany them this time around the knight had said it would be the greatest honor she could give him. At the time Glitch had thought he was just being his usual knightly self, but now he saw it differently. With Elysium at the Summer Court this time, it meant Tertius could more easily meet up with Trinity while the rulers were busy not cutting each other's throats out. But if he got caught with Trinity—even if they didn't do anything directly out of line with the laws of their courts—that would be a war declaration in the making…

Oberon might not want to go in full out battle with Meghan and Ash—especially considering the Iron Kingdom was basically a faery's worst nightmare come true—but also because Meghan was still his daughter, even if he only claimed it on the worst times when he was demanding favors or obedience, which usually didn't go very well. But Mab might also make a stand, just because she'd love to have the chance to get at Meghan—who still despised—and she wouldn't tolerate the idea of another illegal union like the one she'd had to suffer between her youngest son and the half-blood daughter of her mortal enemy. Ash would probably throw a fit because Tertius had brought down such trouble on him, and even if Meghan managed to work her diplomatic magic and make everyone play nice, there would still be that tension, and it was just as likely that Tertius would be banned from going to any more gatherings where he might run the chance of seeing Trinity.

With all that in mind, Glitch should do the right and virtuous thing and go tell Ash and Meghan, but several minutes passed and he continued to lay flat on his bed, staring at the ceiling, scarcely blinking, with his arms stretched out beside him, and did not move a muscle. Ten minutes passed in which he continued to rant at himself to get off his lazy ass and go warn Ash, but after another five minutes in which he did nothing more than take slow breaths and contemplate the warped stones of the ceiling he grumbled an oath and rolled onto his side, facing away from his door. He couldn't betray Tertius like that…

His friend had worked so hard for so long at doing his duty, and he had never been able to find someone to take the weariness away from him at the end of the day. He'd never really smiled or laughed or been able to just let loose and have fun, but in the past week that they'd spent wandering around in the wyldwood with Goodfellow and the others Glitch had seen an unbelievable change come over his friend. At first he'd thought it was some kind of voodoo magic to do with being in the wooded territories of Summer, but the closer he'd paid attention, the more he'd seen it was because Tertius would hang around Trinity and the others. Well, he'd thought it was because of Trinity _and _her friends, though now he could see that had been a bit off. It was solely because of Trinity that Tertius had managed to open up a little more, laugh a little louder and smile a lot more brightly. That girl, the Lady of the Summer Court, had put light into Tertius's eyes and warmth in his heart where it had only been steely coldness for so long.

And Glitch would be damned if he was going to go and cut it off before it got started. Tertius would never forgive him if he ruined what he had with Trinity, and Glitch also knew Tertius would clamp up like a vice the moment he was broken off from the one girl that had managed to make so much difference in so little time. He'd become that cold, unyielding knight of the Iron Kingdom that he had always been, and Glitch had grown too fond of the new, happier Tertius to want to risk going to back to the old times when the most he could hope for was a humorless smile in response to one of the lame jokes he would tell just to get a reaction from his friend. And Tertius _was _his friend, and friends didn't stab each other in the back.

He groaned, rolling onto his stomach and jamming his face into his pillow, feeling a sinking in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like this… He really, really didn't like this, but he was making up his mind now. Even if it cost him dearly to do it, he was going to protect Tertius and Trinity. Even if Ash threw him to the dragons for it, he wasn't going to turn his back on his friend.

"That bastard," he muttered into the fabric of his pillow, "Is gonna owe me _so _big when this shit fest is all good and done with…"

He started slightly as a light knock came down on his door, and shoved himself up on his elbows to crick his neck around to look warily at the entrance to his room.

"Who is it?" he sang lightly, imagining Ash standing outside, having somehow miraculously having gotten wind of Tertius's forbidden love affair.

"The angel of death," scoffed a girl's voice, "Come to reap your soul. Open the door, Glitch."

Sighing in relief to hear his Queen teasing him from the other side of the door, Glitch rolled out of bed and strode over to open the door to show Meghan standing there in her usual jeans and t-shirt, smiling wanly up at him.

"Yo," he greeted her, stepping back to let her in. "What can I do for my ladyship at this time of…morning?"

He'd glanced at his clock out of habit and cringed inwardly to see it was nearing one o'clock in the AM. He wasn't going to get much sleep tonight that was for sure.

Meghan giggled a little as she took a seat at his makeshift desk, gesturing that he should sit on his bed.

"I think it's too early for titles," she told him. "Just Meghan for this early in the morning. And I wanted to talk to you about Tertius."

Glitch felt his stomach bottom out. Crap…

"Sure," he said easily, flopping down on his bed, hands behind his head as he reclined against the wall, "What about 'im?"

Meghan seemed to contemplate his expression for a moment, as though she were hoping to divulge some information just by staring at him, then sighed and shook her head, looking weary.

"How much did you figure out about him and Trinity?" she asked quietly, a small frown on her face.

Ah, damn…He'd hoped she wouldn't ask that. At least he didn't seem to be in trouble…yet.

"Not much," he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I actually only found out about half an hour ago that he's smitten."

Meghan looked surprised. "You really didn't know?" she asked.

"Uh, no, I didn't," said Glitch, giving his Queen an appraising look. "Was I supposed to?"

"I just thought he might have told you," Meghan said, looking bemused. "He trusts you, you know. I figured if he would have told anyone about it, it would have been you."

"Ah," said Glitch, feeling a stirring of discomfort in his gut and shifting nervously on the bed. "Well, he apparently doesn't trust me that much. I basically had to drag it out of him, word by word, before I got any kind of solid confirmation on it. I was kind of shocked, to be honest. I thought he was kidding at first."

"No, he's not," murmured Meghan, shaking her head. "He's dead serious."

"Yeeeah," sighed Glitch with a frown. "I figured that out, too, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Meghan looked surprised again, and her brow furrowed as she looked at him with a rather bewildered expression. "What do you mean unfortunately?"

Glitch blinked back at his Queen, now very much thrown for a loop, and after a moment of blank staring he stammered, "Well, uh…I thought you were going to say I need to step up and tell Tertius to get a grip on himself?"

Meghan actually laughed. "No," she said, smiling. "No way. Of course, if you're going to tell me that's what you'd _like _me to say, I can at least try to work it in."

"No," said Glitch immediately. "No, I'm good without it. Uh…but aren't you pissed off or worried?"

"Pissed off, no," Meghan said, shaking her blond head, "Worried, yes. I know Tertius and Trinity being in love is going to probably raise a hell of a lot of issues, but I'm not about to sit here and act like the world is going to end because a couple of people fell in love with each other. Trust me, I've seen worse things happen."

"I bet you have," sighed Glitch with a wry smile.

Meghan smirked at him, then pressed on, "No, but…I actually came to ask if you'll watch out for him. You're his friend and he trusts you, like I said, and since you're both going to Elysium in a couple weeks, I feel like he needs someone there to at least point him the right direction if he starts to stray."

"You want me to play babysitter, you mean?" asked Glitch, arching an eyebrow.

Meghan gave him a dirty look and he laughed, putting his hands up.

"Alright, majesty, I'll do it," he said, grinning at her, laughter in his violet eyes. "I'd already kind of sworn to myself while I was thinking hard over the shit fest that's coming up that I'd make sure he and Trinity didn't get hurt, so it's a good thing you're not ordering me to do the opposite. Though, I have to ask…"

He dropped his voice to a murmur.

"What does Prince Ash think about all of this?"

"That's it's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of," said a dull voice from the door, nearly causing Glitch to fall of his bed with a yelp of alarm as he turned to see Ash leaning casually in the door, arms across his chest. "But considering that I've seen much worse relationships in the making, I'm not about to be the bad guy of the melodrama to say they can't take their chances together. Besides, Meghan would kill me if I got in the way."

"I'd kill you if you so much as _thought _about getting in the way," Meghan told him sternly, turning to give her husband a dark look, to which he smiled.

"Which is why I'm bowing out," he chuckled, then looked at Glitch, his expression turning serious. "But I will say this. If Tertius can't keep his head at Elysium and keep his encounters with Trinity off the radar, I won't really have a choice but ban him from going again. I don't want to have to do it, because I know what it would do to both him and Trinity, but that will be my only option. So, Glitch, think you can keep him on the straight and narrow?"

"Straight, sure," said Glitch with an easy smile at his Prince, "Narrow, not so much. That's a pretty broad path he's walking, wouldn't you say?"

Ash rolled his eyes with a sigh of exasperation while Meghan giggled.

"Just keep him in line," said Ash sternly. "Or I'll chew you out again."

"I'd like to avoid that," said Glitch with a grimace. "You're mean when you want to be, sire."

"And don't forget it," growled Ash menacingly.

"Ha, as if," snorted Meghan, tossing her blond hair as she got to her feet and walked up to Ash, blue eyes narrowed. "It's all just an act to scare everyone else into doing exactly what you say, but you're really just a big softy."

"Is that what you think?" Ash asked, eyebrows shooting up at his queen. "I'm yellow?"

"No, not yellow," said Meghan with a smirk. "Just you're not anywhere near as mean as you like to make people think."

"I think you haven't had a good reminder of how mean I can really be, my Lady," Ash growled at her, taking her by the arm and drawing her from the room.

Meghan was laughing as she and Ash stepped through the door, and turning briefly to bid Glitch goodnight she closed the door and walked off with her Prince, still laughing and teasing as their voices disappeared down the hall. Glitch, feeling much relieved to have finally gotten them out of the room, and with all of his limbs intact, let out an enormous sigh and flopped backwards until he was lying on his bed, staring up at the blank ceiling, running through what he'd just heard.

So, neither Meghan nor Ash was ignorant to the situation with Trinity and Tertius. He should have guessed that much. But he hadn't expected them to take it so well, either. Well…that wasn't entirely true. He'd figured Meghan would take the whole thing much better than Ash, but apparently Ash on the same page as his wife for once. While not an unusual happenstance, Glitch hadn't quite expected the Iron Prince to take everything in stride as he had, or to back Meghan on the suggestion that Glitch keep an eye on his fellow knight when Elysium finally swung around. So, that just left the issue of actually carrying out on that duty.

He might like to think it would be an easy venture and that Tertius would remember himself in the Summer Court, but he'd learned a long time ago that when there was a member of the opposite sex involved that every and all bets were off. And especially since he'd seen for himself that Tertius was no longer the cool, collected individual he was so used to seeing around, that just put him in even more of a pinch. He'd have to tread carefully to keep Oberon from noticing anything unusual was going on, and he would also have to walk softly around Tertius unless he wanted to end up setting his friend off in some unpredictable way. The last thing he needed was to have Tertius throwing caution to the winds and kissing Trinity right before the Erkling and everyone else.

"Alright, Glitch," he sighed to himself, "Get a grip. It's not going to be _that _bad… Just keep him from asking for more than a couple dances, chaperone your good friend, and make sure he leaves with his dignity and body still intact. Piece of cake…"

He hoped…

Sighing in resignation, deciding there was no good sense in staying up any later contemplating how many things could go wrong at an event two long weeks from now, Glitch rolled tiredly onto his side, yanking the blankets up around himself and feeling instantly tired.

"It better be worth it," he sighed, burying his head under the blankets, his violet eyes dropping shut. "All this love crap just wears me out…"

He wasn't the only one on similar thinking terms. Across the castle, still wide awake, staring down at the same piece of paper that he'd had out for what seemed ages, Tertius finally gave it up as a lost cause and pushed back from his desk to march to his window and stare out at the moonlight grounds. Glinting bits of steel and iron gleamed back at him from the castle gardens, and he could see several gremlins skittering around far below, their acid green eyes gleaming brightly in the darkness, their incessant chittering reaching him even four stories up.

He watched them scurry around far below for a long moment, looking like glittering silver beetles from this far up, then heaved a deep sigh and lifted his eyes to gaze out over the seemingly endless landscape of the Iron Kingdom. It went on for ages, though he knew it wasn't endless, but standing up in his room, looking out, it certainly felt endless. Like there was no escape from this place that he had so long called home, but now felt almost trapped in… A steel cage, built of iron and metal, not quite forming bars, but certainly barring him from what he wanted most.

Tertius blinked, suddenly struck by inspiration as he stood staring out into the night, and abruptly pushed back from the window to approach his desk again, quickly seating himself and taking up his pen. Five and a half hours later, and he finally knew what to write to Trinity about…He couldn't believe it had taken him so long… His hand hovering momentarily over the white sheet of paper, he conjured the words in his mind, then, with a small smile on his lips, put the tip of his pen to the paper and began to write.

A prison without bars, though the lands that surround me are just as certainly cold and unyielding and metal as those bars would be, I feel like I have become caged here. The place I have once called home now resembles something more like a prison to me, and I feel that I have been misled all the years of my existence that I have spent believing home was where only your body rested. Humans have a saying, and perhaps you know of it, that home is where your heart rests, and I am starting to realize the truth of those words. Though my heart is just as wrapped in cold metal as the rest of my surroundings, it does not share the same ringing beat as when I am near you. Though this kingdom of Iron may be where I have served my long life, and where my body may lay at rest, it is not my home. Where my heart is, that is truly my home. Until I can return to my true home, I ask you to please look after my heart, for where you are is where it also rests. Keep safe, my Lady. I hope that by the time this letter comes into your hands, I may be at your side as well.

T.

Tertius had hesitated to write his name, and felt it much wiser not to give any more indication to his identity in case the letter happened to fall into the hands of someone who it was not intended for. So, signing off the 'T' with a flourish, he leaned back in his chair and read over his words several times, feeling a lightness in his heart, followed by a prickle of nervousness as he considered whether the letter would manage to reach Trinity, and, if it did, would she like it? Hopefully she wouldn't look it over as something totally unoriginal, because he didn't have anything much better than this, and it had taken him nearly six hours just to get the idea for what would be appropriate to write to her in the first place.

So, praying for the best in her reaction, Tertius focused his attention on a more pressing matter. How the hell did he get the letter to her in the first place?

"Damn," he sighed, leaning his head back and gazing woefully at the ceiling.

He should have considered that before he went making promises to write to her, but that was done and now he had to work out whatever way he could manage to deliver the letter to her. There had to be a way, he thought. After all, there was a constant correspondence between the three courts, and while Meghan may make good use of her e-mail, he was very sure that neither Oberon nor Mab had ever even heard of such a thing. They were still used to good old fashioned quills and parchment. So…how did they get their letters to Meghan? And how did she send them back?

He was tempted to go now and see if the Queen or Prince might be awake to the answer the question, though he knew that would be giving himself away in some sense and would rather avoid it. But if he was to send the letter to Trinity he would have to make a few risks, like the anger of his Monarchs, but before he could work up the nerve to get up and seek out either Meghan or Ash, he glanced around at his clock on a spur of the moment thought and frowned to see it was just past one o'clock in the morning. Even if the Prince and Queen had been awake sometime ago, they were most certainly to be in bed by now, and he wasn't about to go disturb them for the sake of finding out to go about delivering letters to the Summer Court. Much as he disliked it, he would have to wait till morning…or, at least later morning, as it was already in the wee hours of morning though the night sky might like to say otherwise.

Heaving a sigh, he took up the letter and gently folded it in half. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a small envelope and inserted the note inside before sealing it carefully and placing it to the side. Gazing at it for long moment, feeling that lightheartedness swelling in his chest, a brief smile touched his face and he pushed away from his desk for the final time, yawning and stretching his arms over his head. He would need to be up early, at least in the next six hours. So that was a six hour time frame he was going to do his best to spend sleeping as he should normally be doing. Slipping out of his tunic top, and placing his boots neatly to the side of his bed, he rolled under the blankets with a deep sigh and let his tired silver eyes drift shut, curling up on his side and letting his mind wander away into sleep, where the image of a bright eyed girl with flowing ivory hair waited for him with a teasing smile that made her sapphire eyes sparkle with laughter.

Much later, though it seemed much too soon for Tertius, his dreams were disturbed by a persistent hammering on his door. Glitch, coming to rouse him for their morning training, and though his friend's expression was somewhat sympathetic as he poked and prodded at Tertius, who mumbled oaths about the cursed earliness of the hour, he didn't relent until Tertius finally rolled slowly out of bed, rubbing at his blurry silver eyes.

"Up and at 'em, sunshine," Glitch told him, still shaking his friend's shoulder to be sure the other knight wouldn't roll back into bed the moment he walked away. "I know you probably got little to no sleep being up as late as you were pining away, but we've got work to do. Training to perfect, dummies to stab; it'll be great. Come on."

"Ugh," muttered Tertius, jamming the heels of his hands into his eyes, slumped over with his elbows on his knees.

"I know," sighed Glitch with a small grin. "Don't worry, you can crash as soon as we're finished at noon. Meghan decided we didn't need to be up the whole day since we got back last night. So, before she changes her mind because you got lazy, get up, or I'll have to drag your sorry ass out of here in your boxers to go fight."

"I'm up," sighed Tertius, rising slowly to his feet, still bleary eyed as he staggered over to snatch his tunic from the floor, "I'm up…"

"Good," snickered Glitch. "Now, do you think you could shine a little more? I know rising is the mandatory bit, but shining is usually supposed to go hand in hand with it."

"Hmph," snorted Tertius, rolling his eyes as he yanked his tunic over his head, then grabbed his slacks from where he'd dropped them across the back of his chair.

He glanced at his desk, and froze, his eyes widening, immediately awake as he noticed something that made his stomach disappear. The letter was gone…

"Where—?" he started, turning around in a panic, but Glitch held up a hand and cut across him.

"Chillax, Tertius, the letter is safe. Meghan came by earlier to talk to you but you were clocked out and she saw the letter and knew you'd want it sent to Trinity as soon as possible. She went ahead and had one of the packrats ship it out. It'll be in Arcadia this time tomorrow."

Tertius took a deep breath, trying to calm the hammering of his heart that had temporarily gone into overdrive as he thought about the letter to Trinity being burned somewhere. But then he processed the rest of the sentence a little more carefully and felt his chest constrict.

"Meghan?" he asked, feeling nauseous. "How did she know who it was for?"

Glitch snorted, violet eyes rolling at the ceiling. "Because you're not as slick as you'd like to believe," he said dryly. "And Meghan isn't stupid. She apparently knew about you and Trinity before I knew about you and Trinity. So, that being said, when we go to Elysium in a couple weeks, she has me set up to be your personal conscience in the flesh to make sure you don't trip over yourself and set the courts in uproar."

Tertius stared at the other knight, who shrugged.

"I'd already kind of made up my mind to help you," said Glitch idly, "So it wasn't like she was asking much. By the way, sorry for last night's drama. The whole thing kind of caught me off guard and I guess I let it get the better of me."

He didn't look at Tertius as he apologized, but he didn't manage to hide the remorse in his gaze quite as well as he might have liked to, and Tertius felt a small nudge of appreciation and affection for the knight. He knew Glitch still probably wasn't entirely bought in on the idea of him being in love with a Summer noble lady, but to hear his fellow knight at least give his own kind of support, however awkwardly put it may seem, was humbling, and Tertius flashed a small, gratified smile.

"Thank you, Glitch," he murmured, walking up to clap his friend on the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, don't push it," said Glitch, giving Tertius a look of grudging amusement as he smacked at his friend's arm. "Just don't go making out with her before Oberon and everyone, alright? The last thing I need is Ash jumping down my throat again because your hormones decided to take a late start."

Tertius smirked and rolled his eyes as the other knight strode from the room, calling over his shoulder,

"And hurry up, or you'll miss breakfast! And I'm not going to be sorry if you have to work on an empty stomach because you're tired as hell this morning!"

Yep, that was Glitch. Abrasive and crass but unfaltering loyal to a tee. Tertius might have wished they could have had a better coming to terms with their brief argument last night, he knew that the offhanded apology was probably the best he could hope for. And anything else that might have come up between them would easily be dealt with in their spar today. Just a good swat with the flat side of a blade and a couple welts would clear the whole thing right up and they'd be back to normal again.

Sighing to himself as he tightened the belt of his sword around his waist, Tertius strode from the room, closing the door carefully behind him and turning to walk down the stairs, nearly slamming into Meghan in the process as the Queen came hurrying up to him, her blue eyes eager.

"I'm sorry, my Lady," apologized Tertius, reaching out to steady the Queen as she nearly toppled backwards back down the stairs.

"No, that was my fault, sorry," said Meghan, a little breathlessly. "I wanted to catch you before you went out for practice with Glitch. The letter you wrote—"

"Glitch said you had it sent this morning?" Tertius asked in an anxious murmur, and Meghan nodded, her smile blinding.

"I put my name on it," she admitted. "To make sure no one would try to open it before it got to Trinity. It'll be there by tomorrow waiting for her, even if she hasn't gotten there yet, which she should be there by sometime today if Puck is taking them back through the trod."

Tertius nodded and inclined his head gratefully. "Thank you, my Queen."

"Don't mention it," she said with another radiant smile, then added in a more serious tone, "Literally. Don't mention it. I don't need Ash on my tail for aiding and abetting the cause, though, if he gives you trouble for it, just tell him about this Winter Prince you heard about a long time and that ought to shut him up really quick."

Tertius grinned slightly and Meghan winked conspiratorially at him.

"Now, hurry up," she said, stepping aside so he could go down the stairs, "Glitch was talking about eating your breakfast and I don't think you two need to be fighting about anything else today, especially food."

Giving her a brief bow, Tertius went swiftly down the stairs to the kitchens where he found Glitch just about to tuck in to his plate of food, having cleared his own. Slapping the knight sharply across the back of the head, Tertius snatched his share back, much to Glitch's chagrin, and quickly swallowed down all that was there before getting to his feet to follow the still mumbling Glitch out into the courtyard to train.

"Now," said Glitch, turning on his heel as they reached the far end of the training area and flashing a devilish grin at Tertius as he drew his sword, "Just 'cause you're a lovesick puppy today and probably dead on your feet doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you, so I hope you're ready to take a beating."

Tertius rolled his eyes and heaved a resigned sigh. This was so typical…Glitch always taunted him like this, only today included the lovesick part, though somehow he didn't mind it quite so much as he unsheathed his sword and twirled it easily in his hands.

"I just hope you don't cry too much when we're done here," he told Glitch with a dark smile of his own.

"Oooh, cocky little bastard," said Glitch, beginning to circle slowly, his sword point up. "Just don't go complaining to your lady friend that you got your ass handed to you, alright?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," replied Tertius, his silver eyes tracking Glitch's every move as he always began to dance along the edges of their training circle, feet moving lightly back and forth, "Though I'll be sure to enjoy my time relaying the story of how sorry you looked when you went flying feet over head into the steel magnolias."

"Oh, it's on now, lover boy," Glitch said with a laugh and lunged forward, sword extended. "En garde!"

Tertius easily parried the foreseeable move, sliding sideways and retaliating, smacking the flat of his blade across Glitch's shoulder so the other knight swore loudly and swung upward to fend him off. Dancing back to the end of the circle, they started circling again, Glitch rolling his shoulder and narrowing his violet eyes at Tertius.

"Point," said Tertius with a wicked gleam in his silver eyes.

"Lucky shot," said Glitch, then lunged forward again, angling to hit a point on Tertius's calf, but at the last second his sparring partner dodged neatly to the side so Glitch's sword went singing by and Tertius gave a return blow to Glitch's extended arm. "Why you little…!"

The training intensified, as it always did, with the swords clanging together more often as the two got more and more into it, and their grunts of exertion filled the air as they put real effort into their moves. Glitch kept his guard up more, even managing to land a couple stinging blows to Tertius's arm and side, though Tertius kept up a much meaner pace that eventually had Glitch calling a break and going to one knee, panting.

Tertius hung back at his end of the circle, also breathing deeply, a fine sheen of sweat on his brow as he let his sword hang loosely at his side, and Glitch lifted his head to fix his partner with a grin.

"Man, you suck," he said in half hearted irritation. "I thought maybe with you pining away for your lady I'd have a chance today!"

"Never," said Tertius with a small smirk. "I can still lay you out flat in a heartbeat."

"Oh, yeah?" Glitch cocked an eyebrow. "Then why haven't you done it yet, huh? I'm still ready to go at you, man."

"Because that would be unfair of me to assert my superior fighting skills in a child's squabble," said Tertius, his silver eyes gleaming with amusement as Glitch came to his feet, shaking off the soreness and exhaustion.

"Just means you're an old man playing on the big kid's playground," Glitch retorted, swinging his blade in circles, the metal slicing through the air with a shrill whistling sound. "You're up for retirement."

"As I've said before: Bring it."

Tertius crooked two fingers at his opponent, who gave a short battle cry before rushing in for the attack. They kept at it for another long few hours, Tertius still holding his lead with Glitch struggling to keep pace until, finally, with both of them covered in sweat and gasping for breath, they broke apart, ready to go again, when someone called out to them and they looked around to see Meghan skipping lightly down the steps towards them. Her loyal German Shepherd, Beau, trailing at her side, tongue lolling and tail wagging as he darted ahead with a bark to assault Glitch with licks, much to Tertius's amusement as Glitch was knocked to the ground by the enormous dog.

"Eck, dog saliva!" Glitch exclaimed, trying to push at Beau's chest to get him off with no success as the canine continued to lick eagerly at his face. "Ahck, it's in my _mouth_! That's _disgusting_! Bad dog, get down! Down, I said!"

Meghan laughed as she danced up to the knights, grinning in amusement as Glitch struggled with his newest opponent, and Tertius looked on with an equally entertained smile.

"I came out to interrupt the two of you," the Queen admitted after a moment more of watching her knight be assaulted, "Since I felt you two needed rest. I told Glitch to tell you you only needed half the training today."

"He did," Tertius said, nodding at her. "I feel we got a little carried away, though."

"As per usual," said Meghan with a knowing smile. "You two always get blown away with the adrenaline and testosterone when you're going head to head. I swear, it's like watching Puck and Ash all over again."

Tertius gave a rather sheepish smile as his Queen gave him a stern look. Then they both turned to watch Glitch for another few moments as the knight continued to struggle at heaving Beau off of him, though the dog seemed perfectly content to seat himself right on Glitch's chest and sit with his tongue lolling out, dripping saliva onto the Iron fey's face to his utter disgust.

"So," sighed Meghan after another long while, giving Tertius a sidelong glance, a knowing smile dancing across her face. "While it's on my mind, what's she like?"

Tertius turned to her, a little startled, and she grinned at him.

"Trinity," the Queen prompted him, giving him a small nudge with her elbow. "Come on, give me a little something. What's got you and her so close? I know I was there and saw her, but…that was more a physical 'thereness' than me really paying attention. Besides, even though I knew you two were getting friendly I don't exactly know what has the two of you so close. I'm curious."

She flashed him an impish smile while he continued to stare back at her, rather put off by this interest from his Monarch, and he felt his heart flip over strangely as he pointedly looked away, not quite able to meet Meghan's bright blue eyes.

"I…" He began, then faltered and swallowed. "I can't really say for certain…I'm still…figuring it out myself, I suppose."

Meghan watched the knight with a knowing expression, arms folded loosely across her chest, then turned away as well to watch Glitch covering his hands with his face, still yelling curses at the oblivious dog.

"Does she make you happy?" she asked softly.

Tertius was quiet for a long moment, thinking over the words, and watching the sunlight overhead touch on the metallic roses nearby, turning their gray petals a dazzling silver that nearly blinded him so he blinked and looked down at his feet.

"Yes," he murmured at last. "She does. More than I ever thought anyone could make me feel."

A soft smile came to Meghan's face as she continued to gaze almost sightlessly over the courtyards of her palace, and she let her eyes close briefly with a sigh that could have been from relief.

"I'm glad," she said, her tone sincere. "You've been on your own for a long time. It's why I was so happy when I realized that you and her had connected."

Tertius felt a jolt of surprise and glanced over at the Iron Queen, though she still had her eyes peacefully closed as she let a light breeze play around her face.

"Even though we're from different courts?" he asked after a moment.

Meghan gave a small snort of annoyance and opened her eyes only to roll them heavenward. "I could care less about court loyalties," she told him dryly. "If those mattered, Ash and I wouldn't be together. I'd still be stuck in Summer, and he'd be hanging out in Winter under Mab's thumb. Those kinds of things don't matter to us, and they really shouldn't matter to you."

She turned to him, fixing him with a piercing look from her blue-green eyes.

"The Courts don't hold power over everything, Tertius," she told him. "If they did, we'd never have to worry about what might happen if the humans ever stop believing. We wouldn't have to have these pointless squabbles about land and everything else, and we definitely wouldn't have enemies. Summer would either win over Winter or vice versa, or we'd win over both of them. But not everyone has the power to control everything, and it's really stupid for any of them to think that they can control something as free and unpredictable as love. Believe me, Oberon and Mab tried their hardest to keep Ash and I apart and look where it landed them. I'm a Queen, Ash is my husband, and the other two are sitting in their Courts probably still sour about the whole thing."

She flashed a wry smile that he returned, then sighed and shook her blond head, frowning.

"It doesn't make sense to me why the courts can share so many things, and yet not the most important thing of all," she murmured, sounding sad as she lifted her eyes to the blue sky overhead, watching as a couple of gliders drifted lazily by. "They're always fighting, bickering for land and everything else, and they might be able to resolve so many conflicts if they just get rid of all that hate and let their people start to mingle. Though, given how much time has passed since that enmity started I doubt anyone in either of the courts would willingly associate with their enemies. The only reason I managed to warm up to Ash was because I was originally human and didn't have that bias yet. And Trinity is the same. Her father might have been a General of Summer, but she was raised to be human, so she thinks like a human. And that human side of her loves you."

Tertius felt that increasingly familiar twisting in his heart to hear his Queen state the words aloud so easily, and felt an unusual fluttering sensation in his stomach that had him feeling a little lightheaded. In the meantime, Meghan went on, still speaking her soft voice,

"I don't what will happen in the future, but I know that if you two want to be together there shouldn't be anything that has the right to stop you. You are your own people. And if Oberon decides to go get high and mighty about the whole thing, I'm sure Trinity will give him an earful about it whenever he tries to rein her in. She's got spunk, and I can tell she doesn't like taking orders very much."

"Like you," said Tertius with a small smile directed as his Queen, who had the grace to grin in embarrassment even as she nodded.

"Yeah, like me," she agreed. "I guess that's why she and I got along so well. We both had to listen to Oberon go on and on like he rules the world, and we both hate it."

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

"Guess that's the way of the world," she murmured, and gave Tertius another small smile, accompanied by a gentle look. "Make your own choices, Tertius. Ash and I will be behind you no matter what they are. Unless you try to go storm the Summer Court, or something, then we might have to talk about it first. But if you're set on Trinity—and I can see you are—then all I can say is go for it. You only live once, even if you end up living for eternity, and I can tell she means the world to you already."

Tertius met his Queen's vivid blue-green gaze with his own piercing silver one, and when she smiled he could only stand there, feeling humbled.

"Well, that's my two cents for the day," Meghan sighed, stretching her arms over her head. "I have to go check some e-mails really quickly. Apparently there's been some kind of issue with the cables again and I have the feeling one of the gremlins is behind it, so Ash and I are checking that out in a bit. In the meantime, you and Glitch get some rest. There'll be some downtime for the next couple of weeks, and I'd suggest you use it to power up for Elysium in a couple of weeks."

Giving one last grin she turned to leave, calling Beau to her side as she went so the German Shepherd finally hoped off of Glitch's chest and hurried after his master, barking happily.

Glitch rolled to his stomach, moaning loudly and wiping drool from his face with a look of pure disgust on his face.

"I _hate _dogs," he grumbled as he pushed himself to his knees, still wiping furiously at his cheeks and face. "Not much of a cat person either, but I really _hate _dogs!"

"Maybe you'd be better off with a gerbil," suggested Tertius with a smirk as he walked up to offer his hand.

Glitch took it and Tertius yanked him to his feet.

"Screw it, I'm just never having pets of my own," Glitch said irritably, rolling his eyes. "Or kids. They're just as bad."

"Are they now?" Tertius asked, amused. "And how would you know that?"

"I just do, alright," said Glitch, grimacing. "Think about it, it's not that hard, they crawl on all fours, they babble, they drool and they puke. The only difference between babies and animals is that animals still have a tail to knock crap over with."

"Babies grow up eventually," Tertius reminded him.

"Yeah, but that means you have to _raise _the little bastards," said Glitch, shuddering at the very idea. "I say no thank you, I'll just die old and alone with no children to my name and say I lived a full happy life."

"A full happy life," mused Tertius, "Alone…How does that equate in exactly? If you're alone, how was it happy?"

"You wouldn't understand," said Glitch with an indignant sniff as they headed back into the palace, ready for lunch, "You're in _love_, my poor sir. People in love are blind to the joys of singleness."

"Are they, now?" Tertius asked, highly entertained. "I'm starting to think all that drool seeped in through every orifice on your face and has soaked into your brain, causing you to short circuit and you don't actually know what you're talking about."

"And while I am envisioning that lovely mental picture," said Glitch in total revulsion, "I'll kindly thank you for the innumerable welts that are now popping up all over my body that are sure to give me such grief in the next few hours and days and which I shall repay you for in due time, so watch your back."

"Duly noted," said Tertius with a smirk. "I'll make sure to keep looking over my shoulder every time I sense malicious intent behind me."

"Mock me if you will," said Glitch disdainfully, "I can assure you that you will be lying on the ground one day, flat on your back, staring at the ceiling, and curse the day you engaged me in mock battle."

"Uh-huh," said Tertius, rolling his silver eyes skyward as they turned the corner into the dining hall, where the cook had already set out two steaming plates of food for them. Clearly, Meghan had beaten them to the punch and forewarned the cook of approaching famished knights.

"Just you wait," Glitch said in a would-be menacing voice as they took their seats in the otherwise empty hall, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too."

"You are such a sad, strange little man," sighed Tertius, smirking as he lifted his knife and fork to eat.

"I don't want to hear sad," said Glitch, brandishing his own steak knife even as he shoveled potatoes into his mouth. "Sad is you're in love with this chick, and I don't really know jack shit about her, and I'd really like to! And you haven't had the heart to come and tell me a thing about it! I had to hear it from Meghan and Ash, for crying out loud. _That's _sad."

"Alright," said Tertius as he chewed on his steak while Glitch cast him a steely look from the corner of his eyes. "I get the clue. You're upset that I didn't tell you before Meghan and Ash did. Even though, technically, I kind of did."

"Not really," snorted Glitch, "You and I got into a spat about it and then I got confirmation from Meghan and Ash. You didn't really tell me jack shit, man."

"Well, now that we're on the subject, what would you like me to tell you?" Tertius asked, exasperated.

"How it got started would be a good place," Glitch suggested, now stuffing carrots into his already packed maw. "Followed by what the heck you two were doing when you vanished that morning."

Tertius sighed. How had he known it would come to this? Ah, well, no turning back now…

"It's basically what I told Meghan," he murmured, looking down into the puddles of gravy on his plate, "I don't really know how it got started it just…kind of did…"

"Ah, the spark," said Glitch in an all-knowing voice. "That one shot from the gun and you've been had. Alright, I can believe that. But what kept you going with it? Didn't you think maybe it was just a phase? I mean…you only knew her for a few days…"

"I did think about it," Tertius admitted in a quiet voice, still gazing sightlessly down at his plate, drawing the tongs of his fork idly through the gravy and potatoes, "Because that occurred to me, too. It was only a few days and what could I really see in her after only just six days? But I realized that it wasn't just a phase after a little bit and there was no point trying to pretend it was and that I'd get over it. I knew I wouldn't…and something told me she wouldn't either, which is why I blew up at you last night when you suggested that she would. I may not know a lot about her, but I know enough to know that when she puts herself out there it's meant to last. She doesn't go for that spontaneous moment. She aims for the things that last and make her life brilliant forever, rather than just having those couple of times that shine more brightly than the rest. She's adventurous, but she's not rash. She looks for the big things in life, but she also makes sure that they'll stay there for a long time. Like her friends, Catherine and Nikki, she wants ties and relationships that she can rely on for a long, long time.

"I wanted to be able to be like that for her, too… I wanted to be able to be there for her for as long as she wanted me to be there."

He lapsed into silence then, gazing unseeingly at his food, and Glitch gazed down at him, his violet eyes thoughtful and dark. After a while, he turned back to his own food, which was just a few traces of gravy and meat left behind that he spooned up and knocked back with a contented sigh before laying his knife and fork across the plate.

"Well," he said quietly, "If she matters to you, then that's it. You're not rash, either, so I can tell you're in this for the long run. And, whatever may come, be it hell, high water, or a bunch of angry ass Summer faeries come to eat your heart out, I'll be beside you to beat them back with a ten foot pole."

Tertius turned to fix his partner with a stunned look, and when Glitch caught the amazed way in which the knight was looking at him he gave a lame shrug and a lopsided grin.

"I already decided I'm going to help you out with this," he told Tertius, reaching out to throw an arm around his friend's shoulders. "So don't go giving me that look like you expected to come out and say 'just kidding' because you'll be a long time waiting for it. You're stuck with me, man. Until you get a ring on your lady fair's finger or one of you decides it's not worth the bullshit anymore, I'll be here. And, you know, what, even if one of you does decide it's not worth the bullshit, if that person happens to be _you_, I'm going to kick you so hard in the ass you're going to have a boot print there for the rest of your life because if you give up I'm going to keep reminding you how hard you already worked to get here. So don't even think about it."

Tertius was grinning as Glitch finished his little ultimatum, and chuckled when his friend fixed him with a dark stare that was supposed to be menacing, but only came off as amusing.

"Alright," he said, smiling at Glitch. "Alright…I'll remember. No giving up, or your boot makes friends with my ass. That about it?"

"Damn right it is," said Glitch fiercely, grinning. "Now, let's get on with this. I have many more questions to inquire about, and not enough time in this day to probably get them answered."

"But you're going to give it your best shot, aren't you?" sighed Tertius, rolling his silvery eyes at the high vaulted ceiling.

"Of course I am," said Glitch, "Just because there isn't enough time doesn't mean I don't follow the laws of such time. I will have my questions answered immediately. Now, unless you're going to kindly hand over that plate to me to finish, I suggest you finish eating so we can continue this conversation in more private venues, and because I know you well enough that you won't be rude enough to talk with your mouth full. Priss that you are…"

Tertius smirked and obediently bent to the task of swallowing the rest of the roast and potatoes stacked on his plate while Glitch idly twirled his fork between his fingers, humming blandly to himself. Five minutes later, they were pushing away from the table and making their way out of the dining hall, Glitch slinging an arm around Tertius's shoulders and guiding him straight to his room.

"Now then, my good sir," Glitch said as he set himself down at his desk, gesturing for Tertius to take the bed. "I have a very serious question to ask you. And I would appreciate a straight answer on the matter."

"You think I wouldn't give you a straight answer?" asked Tertius, cocking an eyebrow.

"You might," said Glitch idly, smirking. "Since I'm going to ask about how you feel about matrimony and all that."

"Matrimony?" Tertius's eyebrows shot up. "Marriage? And why are you asking me about that?"

"Because, it has to be asked," said Glitch, leaning back in his chair, long legs stretched out in front of him. "Are you or are you not planning to eventually ask this lovely lady's hand in marriage? Yes, no, possibly, yet to be decided?"

"Is this a really necessary question right now?" sighed Tertius, drawing a hand over his face, feeling immediately weary. "It's only been a _week_, Glitch. People don't generally get married after a _week_."

"Hey, it could happen," said Glitch with a wry smile. "Breaking new ground, you know…"

"Next question," sighed Tertius, peering over his fingers at Glitch.

"Alright," muttered Glitch, rolling his eyes. "Let's see…when are you planning on kissing her?"

"Next question…"

"Oh, come on!"

Tertius gave Glitch a look. "I can't really answer that question, either, Glitch. I don't know. It isn't just about my plans, after all. She's part of it, too."

"Of course," sighed Glitch, looking resigned. "Of course she is, and you, being the noble gentleman, will of course let her have her say in how quickly your lips lock on hers…Typical."

"You say it like it's a bad thing to let her have her say," said Tertius with a skeptical look directed at his comrade.

"I am not suggesting that," denied Glitch, shaking his head. "Just that you're almost too virtuous for your own good. You really need to assert yourself more, man. Otherwise you're going to get left in the dust. You know the good guys always finish last."

"Funny," said Tertius in a sarcastic voice, "Last time I checked, we won the war."

"Details," snorted Glitch. "And totally besides the point. We finish first in wars and last in love. It's a cruel irony. The bastards always get the girl."

"Mind what you say," Tertius warned him, "Unless you'd like to bring it up with Prince Ash that perhaps he isn't such a nice guy."

Glitch gave his partner a dirty look and snorted his annoyance. "Still beside the point. Alright, fine, next question. What are you going to do at Elysium in a couple weeks?"

"Why do you insist on asking me questions about what I'm _planning _to do and assuming that I even _have _a plan?" demanded Tertius in exasperation.

"Why do you not have plans?" retorted Glitch in disbelief. "Everyone needs plans for things like this!"

"I think that's your philosophy," sighed his comrade, rolling his mercury eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time that day. "I personally prefer to wing it. It's worked well for me so far, wouldn't you agree?"

"I can't say," Glitch responded. "I don't know what you guys have done so far."

"We went for a walk in the woods, promised to write letters to each other," Tertius was getting a little annoyed, "Anything else you want to know?"

"What'd you write in the letter?" Glitch's expression was distinctly mischievous.

"None of your business."

"Aw, don't be such a killjoy!"

"I'm not. I'm telling you what I write to Trinity is absolutely none of your business," Tertius responded coolly. "And if you keep asking questions like that, I'm leaving."

"Alright, then what questions _should _I ask you?" asked Glitch, huffing in annoyance, "Since I can't seem to get them right."

"A good place to start," said a voice from the door, causing them to jump and turn to see Ash standing there, one hip leaned lazily against the doorjamb as he looked at them, "Is generally with 'what does she make you feel when you're with her'?"

"Hello, there, sir," Glitch hailed his Prince, who looked vaguely amused as he glanced over at his lieutenant. "I didn't see you there."

"You weren't supposed to," Ash told him, and turned to Tertius. "So, has he asked you that yet? How she makes you feel when she's around?"

"No," admitted Tertius.

"But he kind of already answered that question by himself without my prompting," Glitch added with a lame shrug. "Apparently she makes him very, very happy."

"I didn't say that," Tertius said with a frown.

"No, but you didn't really need to, it was written all over your face as you stared longingly into the depths of your mashed potatoes," said Glitch with a dramatic sigh, pressing a hand to his heart, "Dreaming of the day when you and your lady fair will be together…eating them off the same spoon."

Tertius picked up a book from the nightstand and chucked it at Glitch, who didn't duck in time and took the heavy tome right to his face with an oath as it dropped into his lap then slid off his knee to the floor.

"Damn it, Tertius, that _hurt_!"

"It was as much as you deserved, you cretin."

"Alright, children, stop fighting," sighed Ash, rolling his eyes. "Otherwise Meghan will want to hear why you two are out of commission and I'll have to explain it all and then it'll be my fault."

"Yes, daddy," said Glitch with a wry smirk at his prince, even as he pressed a hand to his forehead, where a bruise was forming.

Smirking at a memory of another time Glitch had been nursing a similar injury, Tertius turned to Ash as the prince fixed him with a serious look.

"So, I assume Glitch has told you about what's going to happen in Elysium?" he asked lightly.

"The part where he's my chaperone?" inquired Tertius, and when Ash nodded he smiled. "Yes, he informed me. He also made sure to tell me he'll give me such grief if I cause trouble."

"He won't be the only one," Ash said in a menacing tone, though he smirked. "Just be sure not to make any deliberate offenses against Oberon while we're there, Tertius. I may be backing you on this along with Meghan and Glitch, but I can't say with certainty that Oberon won't blow up if something gets leaked."

"Ah, the scandal," sighed Glitch with a conspirator's smirk thrown at Tertius, "You really know how to work it, don't you?"

"You're not helping the issue," Tertius told him, to which he shrugged carelessly.

"I'm not supposed to help you until two weeks from now. My duty is currently in stand-by mode."

"I'll keep that in mind…"

"In any case," said Ash with another roll of his eyes. "Both of you get some rest. Glitch, I'd like to speak with you a little later tonight regarding plans for Elysium."

"Yes, your Excellency," said Glitch with a small salute. Ash swept from the room, leaving the two knights in each other's company.

"I'm going back to my room," sighed Tertius, rising to his feet as well and stretching his arms over his head. They ached from the earlier sparring match, but pain for him was a good thing. It meant he was getting stronger, and strength was always something he looked forward to, especially when everyone around him was making it sound like he'd never every ounce that he had to avoid getting turned into a bramble bush come Elysium. "I'll see you at dinner later, assuming you're not cooped up in the Prince's office discussing potential battle strategies."

"Alright," said Glitch, waving idly as his friend passed him. "Try not to get lost or trip down the stairs on your way."

"Uh-huh," yawned Tertius as he slipped through the door.

Glitch smirked after the knight, then sat for a while, considering what he could now to pass the time, since he really didn't have any other plans. Normally, he and Tertius would have trained until sundown and then had dinner with the rest of the castle, but this was an odd day and now he felt kind of put off without anything to do. Whistling idly to himself, looking around for something to do, and caught sight of the book that Tertius had thrown at him lying open on the floor. What the heck, he thought, bending to pick it up from the floor, flicking to the front page, only to stop dead as he read the title.

"Aw, _hell_, no," he said in disdain, throwing it across the room so it smacked against the opposite wall. "Fucking _Romeo and Juliet_, how the hell did that even get in here?"

He heard a snicker behind him and spun around to see a Gremlin squatting on his desk, bat like ears quivering and bright green eyes flickering as it chattered in a static like voice at him before scurrying off the side and out the door, cackling madly.

"Fucking Gremlins," he muttered, standing up and stomping across the room to slam the door. "Need to put out some mousetraps for those little bastards…"

Yeah, right, he thought bitterly to himself as he decided to take the time offered to nap, like Meghan would let him put out traps for those little bugs…she was too damn fond of them. Grumbling to himself, he climbed into his bed and yanked the covers up over his head to block out the noontime sun beating in through his window, wincing as he disturbed a couple of the rising welts on his shoulder and arm and making a mental note to see the healer about them a little later, and also to be sure to give Tertius hell the next day during their sparring session. With a vengeful grin curling the corners of his mouth as he envisioned Tertius nursing golf ball sized welts, Glitch gave a small chortle and sigh as he closed his eyes and fell very quickly to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

When Nikki had gotten up that morning, she had expected that the journey to Arcadia wouldn't take more than a few brief hours—five, tops—considering Puck had mentioned the night before that there was a trod nearby for them to make a detour through the rest of the wyldwood and arrive in the Summer Court in no time. So, it was understandable that standing with her arms over her chest nearly seven hours after having risen, watching Puck run a hand cautiously over a tangle of briars in their path, looking for a door she was starting to think wasn't there, that she was getting a little annoyed. And she wasn't the only one. Demon kept yawning every few seconds as he sat at Catherine's feet, tail curled across his paws, and Trinity was drumming her nails in obvious aggravation on her arm as she stood watching Puck with narrowed blue eyes. Catherine wasn't as visibly annoyed, but Nikki had noticed the girl had been very tired throughout the whole day despite having rested a good deal the night before. She had asked about it, wondering how the girl could be so calm despite Puck's constant detours around detours and turnabouts, and Catherine had merely offered a tired smile and explained she hadn't slept as well as she'd hoped, and as a result didn't quite have the energy to get wound up about the delay.

"Puck," Nikki sighed after another five endless minutes of Puck idly running his hand over the briars, occasionally muttering a curse as he pricked his fingers. "We've been standing here for almost twenty minutes and you haven't found the door."

"I thought you said you knew where we were going," Trinity added with a skeptical look as Puck sighed and straightened up, turning to them with a slightly weary expression.

"I do," he insisted, frowning at her. "It just appears that the door is being stubborn about this, because I know it's here, and it just doesn't want to show itself."

"I didn't know doors had personalities," Trinity scoffed, to which Puck gave her a rather withering look before turning his back on them and beginning to search more intensely.

"We would make better time finding a different way," Nikki suggested gently, reaching forward to lay a hand on Puck's back. "This can't be the only way to Arcadia. We took a different way the last time we came through."

"This is the quickest way," Demon said then from Catherine's feet, speaking for the first time in almost three hours. "And it doesn't make sense to double back for another door that is even less likely to show itself when it's much easier to search for the one we know to be here."

"But the door here isn't showing up," Trinity pointed out in a slight aggravated voice. "And I'd rather not to have camp out here in the middle of a living rose bush."

She was getting really tired of standing around, and she was serious when she said she didn't want to sleep out here. While they had been in the sunlit woods most of the day, their final venture had finally brought them here, to a misty, overgrown tangle of briars, and while Puck may keep assuring her and the others that there was really no danger here—despite the fact she kept seeing eyes watching her everywhere she looked—she'd rather avoid sleeping defenselessly out here. Not to mention that despite being in Seelie territory the area they were currently standing in had an eerie chill about them that had goose bumps coming up all over her body, and she kept shivering.

"I'll find it, Tri," sighed Puck, sounding resigned. "Just give me two more seconds here, I've almost got it."

"That's what you said twenty minutes ago," Trinity snorted derisively, "And look where we are now!"

"Still in the same place," said Puck idly, though she sensed a note of impatience in his voice, "And no one's dead yet. I don't think the wait will you kill you."

"No, we'll leave that to whatever keeps looking at me from the briars," she said sarcastically.

Puck sighed but didn't turn around, and Nikki gave her friend a sympathetic frown.

"I know you don't like waiting," she said in a quiet voice as Puck muttered in annoyance, a thorn having caught his thumb, "But since we're kind of clueless and even Demon says this is the best bet we have, we'll just have to suck it up for a little longer."

"Waiting isn't really the problem," muttered Trinity, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring around her at the misty briars, trying not to notice how one bush kept seeming to blink slowly at her with large gray eyes. "It's waiting with whatever is here with us that's the problem."

"Well, just keep your panties on, because I found the door," Puck announced, and a second later there was a flash of light and a low creaking sound as, true to his word, Puck pushed open a large door that had been persistently hiding in the briars. Turning back to them with a rather satisfied grin, Puck stepped to the side and gestured dramatically ahead of him. "Ladies first."

"About time!" gasped Trinity, striding forward to step through the door with Nikki and Catherine close behind her.

"Patience is a virtue, dear," Nikki told Trinity in an amused tone as she also stepped through to the other side, glancing back to make sure Puck, Demon and Catherine were behind her.

"I ran out of it a good couple hours ago," Trinity told her, looking much, much happier as they appeared on the other side of the door, bathed in glorious afternoon sunshine, and surrounded by towering willow trees.

"Well, that's a damn shame," said Puck, the last to step through the door, and kicking it closed behind him so it fell shut with a resounding bang. "Then again, can't really lecture you on patience since I remember someone pointing out it wasn't one of my strong points."

"I think I remember something about that, too," mused Nikki with a small grin at the fiery haired faery, who stuck his tongue out at her before looking around with attentive emerald eyes.

"Right then," he sighed, grinning hugely as he turned towards his left and pointing ahead of him. "About five hundred and fifty paces that-a-way, we should run straight into the gates of Lord Pointy Ears' court. So, let's get a-walking."

"Just five hundred and fifty?" asked Catherine in weary amusement, smiling as Puck strode past her with a newfound bounce to his step. "That's not so bad."

"Isn't it?" Nikki asked, rapidly trying to do calculations in her head. "Isn't that like…I don't even know…maybe a quarter of a mile?"

"Depends on the size steps you take, Nik," Puck informed her with a wry smile thrown over his shoulder, emerald eyes glinting. "Though, if you really want a good estimate, I'd say another twenty minutes, as the crow flies."

"So long as you're not flying ahead of us," Nikki warned him, narrowing her brown eyes at him so he laughed and shook his head.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said with a wink. "That'd be cheating, of course. Besides, I need to stay behind to protect you three lovely ladies."

He spared a glance for Demon, who was trotting quietly along beside Catherine.

"And the black Furball, of course," he added with a grin. Demon cast him a disgruntled look, but didn't respond, and instead held his tail high as he continued to make his way after the group, though a couple times Catherine noticed he slowed to peer at something nearby with a rather dangerous look before resuming his natural pace.

"What's up, Demon?" she asked after the Cait Sith had done it several more times, one time stopping completely to glare at a spot behind a Willow tree before trotting to catch up with her.

"Just a few nuisances who don't know what's good for them," he said idly, glancing up at her. "Nothing too troubling."

"Says you," she said idly, rolling her eyes. "Of course, it could be a real problem for the rest of us."

"I doubt it is anything that Goodfellow could not handle if he needed to," Demon reassured her with a flick of his tail. "I am just trying to negate the need for him to pull his daggers, as we are already late as it is."

"We have a deadline to reach Arcadia?" she asked in amusement, grinning down at him.

"I would rather like to be there before it gets much later," Demon told her coolly. "Since I can tell that we won't be in much of a position to head out immediately in a search for your father today, given the lateness of the hour, it is best to appeal to Titania's better side before she becomes drowsy at the end of the day. She is much less appealing when she is growing tired."

"I can imagine," sighed Catherine, a new found concern developing in the pit of her stomach as she thought about the Summer Queen. "You're still not convinced she'll let us stay, are you? You were talking to Puck about it earlier today, I remember."

"Titania is not very tolerant of half bloods or Cait Sith," Demon told her, a line she had already heard several times earlier in the day. "And considering I imagine she is already quite loathe to have Nicolette in court at Trinity's request I can tell she'll be even less inclined to let us stay even if Trinity puts in a word for us with Oberon."

"Yeah," sighed Catherine, shaking her head wearily. "That is a problem…"

"More than a problem," Demon said, glancing up at her with narrowed yellow-green eyes, "Since you are already out of nightshade from last night. I am surprised you did not ask Spindle for more before we left."

"I tried to," Catherine admitted with a guilty look down at her companion, "But she said it would be best to wean myself off of it as soon as possible, since addiction is a totally possible thing and it's not always curable once it's started."

"But you cannot sleep without it," Demon murmured under his breath, slowing so they were side by side with no risk of having Nikki or Trinity overhear them as the two girls were keeping pace with Puck.

"No, I can't," admitted Catherine, looking even more depressed. "And that bothers me more than anything…I shouldn't have to keep taking a medicine to get to sleep when I've been living for the past nineteen years without it."

"Things have changed," Demon said calmly.

"They shouldn't have changed like this," murmured Catherine, and felt her stomach clenching as she realized she still hadn't told him the real reason she knew she couldn't sleep without the nightshade. He'd probably be a little more understanding of the situation if she did, but she still couldn't brave the idea of confessing it to him just yet. And she still hadn't told Trinity or Nikki, and they came first before Demon.

"Regardless of the changes," Demon went on, pretending not to notice the way Catherine was looking so despairingly at the ground under her feet, "The sooner we get to Arcadia, the better. Even if Titania denies us stay in the actual court, I am sure some of my old acquaintances have room to spare. Sorrel, for one, will be an excellent help to us if we can locate him when we arrive."

Catherine nodded, remembering what he had said about beginning the search for the Cait Sith who could be her father, and how their first stop was with his old friend Sorrel in Arcadia. For some reason, despite the fact she could be about to face the man who had fathered her, she didn't quite have the floating feeling in her stomach that she had been expecting, and wondered if it as because she was so tired, or if something was telling her that finding her birth father wasn't going to be as easy as a one-stop trip to Arcadia. Things might be different in Faery, but they weren't so different that she expected to locate the man she was looking for in one fell swoop.

Besides, Faeryland had a cruel irony of making the easiest task into the most difficult endeavor just because that was just the way they liked it. That malicious twist at the end of the story that she was becoming very familiar with the longer she stayed in the Nevernever.

"Alright, ladies and germs!" Puck called then, turning on his heel to march backwards so he was facing them all. "I hope you've all got your pretty smiles on, because I just spotted the gates to the court."

"That was quick," said Nikki, though she was smiling with relief. "I thought you said twenty minutes as the crow flies."

"I forgot to mention the crow usually does loop-the-loops," said Puck with a grin and a wink, to which Nikki rolled her dark brown eyes at him and sighed.

"Of course it does," she said with a wry smile. "Because what fun is just flying straight?"

"Exactly!" said Puck, laughing. "So blasé, just flying in straight lines. I mean, really, what self respecting crow flies _straight_ of all things?"

"Of course," sighed Nikki, rolling her eyes. "And, it's because you just happen to be that special, Puck."

"Well, _duh_," said Puck, looking highly amused as he rapped her sharply on the head so she swatted at his hand with a glare. "How long did it take you to figure that out, beautiful?"

"Not very long, I just didn't feel like you needed to hear it so soon," she told him sweetly. "You're already egotistical as it is."

"I am shocked to hear you say such a thing, madam!" Puck said, looking aghast as he put a hand to his heart, though his blatant grin and twinkling green eyes didn't quite fool them. "I am a modest soul! Perfectly humble."

"Minus the part where you brag every few seconds that you are the one, the only, Robin Goodfellow," Trinity reminded him with a smirk of her own, looking amused.

"That is merely a statement of pure fact," said Puck, turning his nose up in feigned indignation.

"An unnecessary statement of fact," Nikki corrected him, giggling as he gave her a small glare.

"Well, then," he said with a small huff, folding his arms over his chest.

"Just get us to the gate, Goodfellow," sighed Demon, sounding resigned. "It's getting later the longer we dawdle and I for one would like a place to sit down for the night."

"Yes, your majesty," said Puck with a dramatic bow to the cat, still walking backwards, which made the feat all that much more impressive as he didn't stumble, and kept pace as he did an about face to walk straight again. "If you look dead ahead, you can just make out the looming thorn gates that make up the lovely entrance to Lord Pointy Ears' humble abode."

"Puck," said Trinity, sounding resigned, "There is nothing 'humble' about Oberon's palace."

"Depends who you ask," said Puck in response with a snort. "He thinks it's downright plain, not to mention Titania keeps wanting to renovate and saying they don't have nearly enough statues of themselves around the place."

"I didn't see any statues of them to begin with," Nikki said in mild confusion as she laid eyes on the brown thorn gates just ahead of them.

"Exactly my point," said Puck with a grimace. "She wants to start a collection. God help me if she does, I wouldn't be able to keep a sane mind if she put up replicas of herself at every corner. I might have a coronary."

"You're already insane, so I don't see what a few more hits on your mentality would hurt," Trinity told him idly as they slowly drew level with the entrance to the main palace, which loomed above them in the already sinking sun.

"You are so mean," muttered Puck, pretending to look hurt as he frowned over his shoulder at Trinity, who was smart enough not to fall for his innocent act and merely rolled her sapphire eyes as they finally closed the remaining fifteen foot distance between them and the gate and drew to a stop just outside.

"Mi'lady," said Puck, turning abruptly to offer his hand to Catherine, who, after a quick glance and reassuring smile from Nikki, took it and allow him to draw her forward, "As it is your first time in Arcadia, allow me to introduce it to you properly."

She merely blinked her green eyes at him as he turned back to the gate, looking up at them and snapping his fingers so, with much slithering of thorns and creaking of vines as the foliage slid slowly out of the place, revealing the grand courtyard beyond, scattered with trees in full bloom, and a fountain that bubbled in the center. Before Catherine's astounded eyes, a few piskies whisked by, their iridescent wings buzzing, and several feet further in a nymph sat idly by the fountain, running her fingers through the shimmering water as she talked casually with a tall, green haired sidhe. The scent of roses and honeysuckle were strong in the air as the small troupe stepped through the gates, which immediately slithered back into place the moment Demon had stepped across the threshold, and with a grand smile Puck gestured around him to the courtyard, his emerald eyes gleaming.

"Welcome to Arcadia," he announced.

"I feel like we should have a fan fare going or something," Trinity said dully. "And it's not all that miraculous out here. The inside of the castle is much more jaw drop worthy."

"I'll have to take your word for it," said Catherine vaguely, staring around her in a kind of stupefied awe. The air was so incredibly warm that for a moment she almost felt suffocated by the cloying sweetness of all the flowers and the heat that seemed to penetrate straight to her bones and had to take several deep breaths just to feel like she wasn't drowning in the humid air.

"You okay?" Puck asked, frowning at her.

"It's a little…hot," she said, giving him a slightly apologetic look.

"Ah," he said, his eyes sparking with understanding. "Don't sweat it. You're a Winter faction kitty, so it's understandable you're feeling a tad overheated. Don't worry, you'll feel better after you get inside. At least it's a _little _cooler inside."

"So he says," Nikki said with a grin as she came up beside Catherine, patting her friend reassuringly on the arm. "Don't worry, Cat. You just need to sit down for a while, and I think we'll have time to do that while we're talking to Oberon and Titania."

"Just don't mention your Winter heritage," Puck added in a low mutter, glancing around to make sure none of the occupants in the courtyard—who were already eyeing them curiously—were going to overhear them, "That's just not a very good idea."

"I wasn't planning on saying anything about it," Catherine reassured him with a slight smirk. "I at least know when to shut up about certain things, though I'm sure you might have to kick me about other stuff before my mouth can get the better of me."

"Don't worry," Nikki told her, "We'll be sure to jam a heel into your toe when necessary. We don't need you going and getting yourself locked up here, too, not that Trinity would take that very well, would you, Tri? You'd give Oberon such a talking to if he even thought about putting Cat in the dungeons."

"You wouldn't either," Trinity told her with a pointed look.

"No, I wouldn't," agreed Nikki with a severe frown. "But I don't have your standing in this court, remember? I'm just the half human daughter of a dryad." She shrugged as though it didn't matter, but both Catherine and Trinity could see the subtle glimmer of pain in her brown eyes.

"You're not just that," Catherine said firmly, "Come on, Nikki. Puck hasn't shut up about that tree you sprouted thirty feet into the air. I don't think 'just the half human daughter of a dryad' could do that so easily."

"She's right," Puck said before Nikki could open her mouth to argue the point. "Not even a regular dryad generally has that kind of growing power. Why do you think it takes so damn long for trees to grow, either here or in the human world? Especially in the human world. They're not exactly chockfull of power, you know."

He grinned when Nikki glanced shyly over at him and winked.

"You're special, too, don't forget," he told her. "Your daddy told you so, remember?"

Nikki couldn't help smirking at that. "You would remember that," she said with a resigned sigh.

"Of course I would," he said, sounding a little affronted. "What? You think I have a poor memory?"

"Selective is more the term I was looking for," she admitted. "Now, let's get a move on. If we're going to talk to Titania and Oberon before they hit their low point, we'd better do it now."

"Ah, right," said Puck, and grimaced. "I'm not going to enjoy this…I can already feel in my internal organs that Lord Pointy Ears is going to turn me into something I'd rather not be…"

"Like what?" asked Nikki as she raised an eyebrow. "A chipmunk again?"

"No, he's not that thoughtful," said Puck with a remorseful little sigh. "Probably a skunk…I hate that…"

"Has he done it before?" Trinity asked, looking half amused and half repulsed at the thought of a ginger furred skunk waddling around.

"Not a skunk, per se," Puck said with an idle shrug as he beckoned for them to follow him towards another set of gates leading into the palace. "But I was black and white, and nobody wanted to get near me."

"A zebra?" guessed Nikki, causing the red haired faery to stop dead and stare over his shoulder at her in total incredulity. "What?"

"You astound me sometimes," he told her with a sigh. "Why the hell would Oberon turn me into a zebra?"

"How should I know why he does things?" was Nikki's reply, her mouth turning down a frown as she narrowed her eyes at him. "He doesn't make sense to me. I was just guessing at an animal that was black and white and people don't generally like going near. What else was I supposed to think? A penguin?"

"Oy," muttered Puck, face-palming as he turned to lead them towards the gate and shoving through it, passing a couple of interested looking sidhes as they stepped through into a grand hallway that had Catherine staring around her in awe, though the rest of her troupe—Demon included—didn't spare so much as a glance for the intricate carvings set in the stone around them, or the few windows they passed that held intricate stained glass pictures.

"So, we should probably tell you now, before we actually run into Titania or Oberon," Trinity said to Catherine, dropping back to keep pace with her friend, who leaned closer to hear her. "Unless you're spoken directly to, don't talk to Titania. She _hates_ people talking to her without permission, especially half humans. She looks at it like the highest insult, so I'm saying it now."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Catherine murmured back to her friend, glancing around to find a piskie hovering very close by, watching with brilliantly colored red eyes. "Anything else you want to tell me that I should know before facing the gauntlet?"

"Don't tell Oberon you were in Winter territory," Nikki advised her, also dropping back to speak in an undertone to the two friends. "He'll either take that to mean you're a spy or that you could have useful information against Mab, and neither thing is good. Titania would call you out on being a spy before she believed that you had anything to tell us about Mab or Rowan, though I'm sure you probably do."

"Not much," Catherine admitted with a frown. "Just that they're both a pair of the sickest people I've ever met and I'm not keen to see them again."

"As rightly you should feel," Nikki told her with a slight grimace, then reached out to put her arm around her friend's waist with a sigh. "I still get really freaked out thinking that you were trapped by them. I thought we were seriously going to have to sneak into the Unseelie Court to rescue you."

"I'm glad you didn't have to go that far," Catherine told her with a smile. "Imagine how panicked I would have been seeing you guys come sneaking in all covert to try and save me and then possibly getting caught on the way out. We'd have had this whole dramatic scene with one of us lying on the floor crying 'Just leave me! I'll be fine!' Just like something straight out of an _Indiana Jones_ movie."

"Nah, more like _Pirates of the Caribbean_," said Nikki fervently, grinning. "And I would totally have pulled that Jack Sparrow line."

"Totally," agreed Catherine with a little giggle while Trinity rolled her eyes, grinning.

"Alright, now," said Demon suddenly from by their feet, his tone warning, "Be quiet. We're about to enter the throne room and I can already see the Erkling from here. It's time to let Goodfellow work his magic and hope it doesn't land us all in a dungeon."

Catherine glanced ahead of her, and felt her heart go into her throat to see that he was right. Puck was about to lead them through a grand archway into an even grander gathering room, and she could also see, just past the Summer faery's shoulder, the antlered crown and piercing green eyes of the Summer King, and he was looking straight at them as he sat on his throne.

"It's going to be okay," Nikki whispered to her, taking hold of Catherine's left hand while Trinity held the other, and together they followed Puck straight through the arch, into the great throne room, and Catherine had to do her best to ignore the eyes that immediately fell on them, and the murmurs that started circulating like wildfire. She kept her eyes solidly on Oberon, who was now looking down at Puck as the Summer jester approached him, stopping just before the stairs and descending to one knee before his King.

Beside the Erkling, occupying the second throne chair, sat a woman so striking that—had Catherine not been in Mab's presence before—she would have believed that no other woman could be so beautiful or terrifying all at once. But Titania, even with her regal face and cold blue eyes that regarded everyone around her with clear belittlement, naming them below her from the moment they rested on the other fey in the room, could not come close to matching the harsh, icy cruelness that embodied Mab. No one could ever come close to matching the Ice Queen, and so, even as Titania's eyes rested directly on Catherine as she, Nikki and Trinity drew up behind Puck, she found she was not even bothered by the resentful stare as the Summer Queen looked down upon her from her throne, and held the icy blue gaze for a long moment before Nikki tugged at her arm and she knelt as well before Oberon and his Queen, finally averting her gaze to the floor.

"Robin Goodfellow," Oberon murmured, his voice stirring the air, immediately causing the room to settle into unearthly silence, and Catherine saw out of the corner of her eye Puck cringe at the use of his name, "You have finally returned. Though I see with two more companions than you left with…"

"Yes, my Lord," said Puck, his tone low, submissive, and Catherine lifted her eyes carefully to see the faery with his red haired head bowed low in respect, "This is the girl, Catherine, who Nikki and Lady Trinity were so desperate to find. And the Cait Sith, Demon, is accompanying her as a guide."

Remembering Demon was there had Catherine glancing down to see the black cat seated with his black tail around his paws, his head also bowed in respectful tribute to the Erkling, though his eyes met hers as she looked at him and his whiskers twitched before he looked back down at his paws.

"I remember you speaking of this girl," Oberon was saying, and Catherine felt a ripple of unease at the rumbling tone of the Summer King's voice, "And I believe I gave the command that you were not to open a trod to her. She is mortal, Robin Goodfellow."

"Forgive me, sire, but that is not quite true." The objection came from Demon, who lifted his head slowly to fix Oberon with a level stare as the Erkling turned his attention on the Cait Sith. "And I might also state that Robin Goodfellow did not open any trods to her. I did."

There was a ripple of murmuring around the room, stunned and wondering.

Oberon, standing on his throne, narrowed his vivid green eyes at Demon, who, to his credit, did not flinch under the intense stare of the Summer King. He continued to sit, head held high, while Catherine watched him from under her lashes with terror in her heart for him, feeling power circulate in the room like a tangible wave as Oberon slowly rose from his throne, gazing down imperiously at the Cait Sith.

"Let us hear the story, then, Cait Sith," the Erkling rumbled. "Tell me why you have brought this girl here."

Demon inclined his head, and began softly, "I met her during my time spent in the human world. Our encounters at first were limited and she did not know anything regarding my true nature. However, she could see me when others could not, and, as I am sure your majesty can clearly sense, she is not quite a child anymore by human standards. During more time spent in her company, I have discovered she is half fey, and at the time I felt necessary disclosed my true being to her. At her request, after speaking over her heritage, I agreed to bring her here in search of the fey that sired her."

"And why did you agree to this?" demanded Oberon, narrowing his eyes. "Bringing her here was not something you should have so easily consented to, Cait Sith. You know humans are barred from this world. And even if she holds ties to our world through her heritage, why should she be permitted to wander through our lands searching for a fey that may not even wish to claim her?"

"Because, my Lord," murmured Demon, "I am fascinated with the idea of finding the girl's father. I should explain that no ordinary faery made the choice to sire her."

"And what do you mean by that?" asked Oberon in a low voice.

"She is part of my world, Great King," said Demon in a voice that carried through the room. "Part Cait Sith. Whoever fathered this girl is part of my people, and I wish to find out just who among us would have taken such measures to join with a human woman and produce a child."

More shocked murmurs, more staring, and Catherine felt heat creep up the back of her neck as she felt thousands of eyes resting on her back, including Oberon's.

"Is this true?" the Erkling murmured to Demon.

"I would not lie to you, Great King," Demon responded very softly. "The girl is half of my world, which is why I have taken the duty on myself to act as her guide as she searches for her birth father. Until such a time as she manages to find him, I ask that you permit her to remain in the Nevernever, and do not blame Robin Goodfellow for not being able to keep her from entering here, as he was not responsible. Everything that was done to bring her here was done solely by me."

Oberon eyed Demon thoughtfully for a moment, finally lifting a hand so silence fell again as the sidhes around them ceased their mutterings.

"You are admitting to a great deal, Cait Sith," the King observed in his deep voice, "Bringing this girl here in search of a cat who many not even care to claim her, even going so far as to break a law in guiding her through the trod to this world. Are you prepared for whatever consequences might befall you as a result of this?"

"I was from the moment I made the decision, Lord Oberon," Demon murmured, and Catherine felt a horrible jolt in the pit of her stomach, barely resisting the urge to lift her head and stare at the Cait Sith.

"Very well," rumbled Oberon, and Catherine did life her head now to stare in terror at the Erkling as he seated himself back on his throne, his bright green eyes narrowed in thought. "I have heard all that I need to."

Catherine felt her throat close in terror as he lifted a hand again, and she felt the glamour pulsating in the room, causing the other fey in the room to stir in alarm, but Demon did not even blink as he gazed back at the Summer King, who directed his hand directly at the cat, palm outward. Catherine gasped in fear as a crack of thunder rang throughout the room, and Demon was swallowed in a vivid lightning strike that descended from nowhere.

"No!" she cried, but was too frozen to move as Demon was struck repeatedly with the lightning, until she could no longer make him out among the dazzling heat and light, and had to lift a hand to shield her eyes as the thunder roared and the other fey around them cowered against the walls. Nikki and Trinity were wide eyed with horror as they too stared back at where Demon had been, and Puck looked equally stricken as he witnessed the power of his King unleashed on the Cait Sith.

Then, with a final rumble of thunder and white lightning strike, the glamour dissipated, and the smoke that had risen from Demon's spot slowly filtered away, smelling of fire and sulfur that burned Catherine's eyes as she lowered her shaking hand to stare at the motionless form on the ground, tears gathering in her eyes, her heart thundering hard in her chest.

"It is done," said Oberon in his deep voice, and she turned on him, eyes enormous, as the Erkling settled back in his throne, looking impassively down at the Cait Sith's body.

"How could he," Catherine whispered, feeling her horror give way to absolute fury so that Nikki and Trinity both had to seize her by the arms to keep her down before she could leap to her feet.

"Relax," said Puck in a hoarse voice, looking back at her with glittering emerald eyes. "Demon is fine."

"What?" Catherine stared at him as he turned away, back towards his King, and felt a pulse of pure rage fill her as she realized Puck was siding with his Monarch, though the Erkling had just heartlessly attacked Demon for helping her. "How is he fine, he's—"

"Be quiet, Catherine," moaned a voice quietly from behind her, causing her to go rigid with shock before turning her head swiftly around to see the shadowy figure on the ground stirring feebly. "I am fine…"

"Demon," she whispered, feeling sweeping relief fill her as the Cait Sith lifted himself up, then gasped as he turned to look at her from behind steel gray bangs, lowering his trembling hand from his human face. "What…?!"

"Shh," he hissed at her, his yellow-green eyes flashing dangerously as he lifted himself carefully to a crouching position behind her. "Just be quiet for now…"

"Cait Sith," Oberon said in a powerful voice that had Catherine turning immediately back to the Erkling, still in shock for what she had just seen, "This is the punishment I bestow on you. From now until I see fit, you shall retain this mortal form. While you still retain the glamour given to you at the time of your birth, you will only conduct it through this human vessel. Is this suitable for the crimes you have committed?"

"Yes, Great King," said Demon, bowing his head so his gray hair fell into his face. "I accept this punishment as just treatment for my actions and will bear the burden of it so long as you deem fit."

Catherine felt tears burning in her eyes still, feeling the rage boiling low and mean in her gut and couldn't stop herself from glaring balefully up at Oberon, though she kept her head and remained silent, though the Erkling was not ignorant to her indignation, and, upon resting his gaze on her face, arched an eyebrow.

"You do not seem quite so appeased, human," he addressed her, his tone almost condescending so she had to bite her tongue to keep from lashing out at him. "Do you not feel this is an adequate punishment for the Cait Sith's crimes?"

"Don't answer," Trinity hissed at her, giving her hand a tight squeeze, and Demon also gave a warning murmur from behind her.

For a moment, she didn't care, and for a moment, she almost allowed her anger to get the better of her, but when she felt a hand rest on her back from behind, and glanced back in alarm to see Demon staring at her through human eyes, his expression almost pleading, she felt herself calm slightly and took a deep breath before turning her gaze back to Oberon, who waited with an expectant look on his face.

"Forgive me, majesty," she addressed him quietly, bowing her head, "I am still growing used to the laws of this world. I have been human for a long time."

She felt Nikki and Trinity breathe a sigh of relief, and even Puck's shoulders seemed to relax as he exhaled inaudibly.

"As understandable as it is that you are new to our laws," Oberon said, "Never forget that it is by my mercy the Cait Sith does not suffer further, and that you will be permitted to remain here in search of your father."

His mercy, she thought bitterly, barely restraining herself from glaring at him again. What bullshit, she thought. His mercy was nothing. Just his imagined kindness that really meant nothing. She was starting to notice—despite all the differences that Demon had stated existed between Winter and Summer courts—that really the leaders were just the same as the other. Cold, unrelenting, and totally set in their power, as though they ruled everything because they willed it so. That everyone bowed down to them because they were so merciful and powerful. Well, she wasn't buying into his bullshit, and she was going to have a talk with Nikki and Trinity later to make sure they didn't either. Oberon could consider himself a gentle monarch in comparison to Mab, but in Catherine's eyes he was just as conceited and self-absorbed as the Ice Queen.

"Now," Oberon sighed, sounding all of a sudden weary, "Rise and speak to me directly, all of you. Nicolette, Lady Trinity, I want to hear why you and Robin Goodfellow deliberately disobeyed my orders to remain in Arcadia and set out instead in search of this friend of yours."

Nikki had been holding her breath the entire time that Oberon had been speaking to Catherine and now let it out in a breezy sigh and she carefully rose to her feet, glancing nervously over at Catherine to see her friend looking straight down at her feet, though only to hide the expression of fury on her face. Giving the girl's hand a light squeeze, and catching her eye to make sure she saw, she nodded once in encouragement before turning back to Oberon, who was looking down at her and Trinity with a questioning expression.

Trinity was looking straight up into the Erkling's eyes, though her lower lip quivered very slightly, and Nikki could tell her friend was just as shaken by what had just happened to Demon as she was. Glancing back at the Cait Sith, it was to see him getting shakily to his feet, obviously still unsteadied by the amount of glamour that had been forced through his body to make the change, and when he rose to his full height he swayed slightly on the spot before managing to steady himself and look ahead to where Oberon sat. Looking back ahead of her, Nikki swallowed before stepping forward slightly to speak first.

"It wasn't Puck's fault," she said immediately, and felt herself shrink a little under the Summer King's penetrating gaze.

"Nikki," she heard Puck groan from in front of her, his voice barely audible, but she ignored him and went on,

"I wanted to find Catherine, to let her know where we were, because even if she couldn't come here, we didn't want her to think we'd abandoned her. We didn't know at the time that she was half human like we were. We just wanted her to know we were safe, and I asked Puck to take us to a trod back to the human world so we could tell her."

"And did he do so?" asked Oberon, arching a silvery eyebrow at her.

"He did," she admitted, "But only because I wouldn't let him rest about it. I didn't make him come with us to find Catherine, but he waited at the door to let us back in after we found out that she had disappeared. We went back a second time with him and he said he could tell that a fey had been there, and we thought Catherine had been kidnapped and taken to Faery against her will. When we thought about that, Trinity and I wanted to find her and bring her back to the human world so she would be safe, and Puck came with us to protect Trinity, since he couldn't convince either of us to come back before we found her."

"But Catherine was not abducted," Oberon observed, his gaze flickering briefly over where Demon stood before returning to contemplate Nikki, "So, how did you find her? And how did you learn of her heritage?"

Nikki hesitated then, realizing she'd made a mistake. She couldn't tell Oberon that they had met Bane, the familiar of his arch enemy's son, while out in the woods getting ready to raid the Unseelie Court and rescue Catherine. That would just screw everything eight different ways from Sunday, as Puck was so fond of saying when things were going in a very, very ass-backwards direction, but under the Erkling's watchful gaze, Nikki knew she didn't have a choice. Praying that she wasn't about to sentence her friend—or Puck—to some unconceivable torture, she took a shaky breath and looked up at Oberon.

"We heard from some of Puck's sources that she was being held in the Unseelie Court as a prisoner. That she had been captured by Prince Rowan and was being held in the dungeons of the Unseelie Palace. When we heard that, we…we started for the Winter lands, but then we came across another source who told us she had escaped, and was resting at a healer's with Demon to recover from an injury she'd gotten when she was escaping from Rowan and Mab."

She had anticipated the shocked murmurs that would circulate at her words, and so it was not a surprise to hear them going all around the room behind her, and she had even anticipated the way Oberon's eyes would narrow to the tiniest slits. But she had not quite anticipated the look of horror that crossed Titania's face, and for a split second let herself be fooled into thinking the Summer Queen would take pity on Catherine for her trials, but that was before Titania reminded her that the Queen cared for absolutely no one but herself by leaping to her feet, pointing a finger at Catherine and shrieking,

"A spy! Sent by Mab to keep watch on us!"

"Saw that coming," Trinity muttered under her breath, glaring furiously up at the faery Queen as she continued to glare down with condemning eyes at Catherine, who stood still and silent without looking up.

"Peace, wife," sighed Oberon, waving a hand to Titania, who looked positively outraged to be so easily brushed aside. "We have no proof this girl is a spy in Mab's employ."

"Then ask her!" spat Titania, gesticulating in something like revulsion at Catherine. "Go ahead and question the half breed! And be sure to do it properly, lest your softness for half humans leads us to our death!"

Oberon's eyes flashed menacingly at the Queen, who caught her breath as the Erkling rose slowly from his seat, towering over her, his expression clearly warning as he gazed down at her.

"You will not speak to me in such a way," he said, and though his voice was soft, it fairly thundered with his authority, and Titania's eyes flickered momentarily with alarm. "Sit down, Titania. I will speak to the girl, and I will hear no more of your imagined slights against her until such a time as I decide they are deserved."

For a moment, the Summer King and Queen stared at each other, Titania looking very much like she would like to argue furiously to the point, but Oberon seemed to grow taller as his power swelled in the room, and she seemed to think better of it, though she made sure to give her most venomous glare to Catherine and the others as she resumed her seat, staring down at them with pure malice as Oberon took a step forward to address them once more.

"Girl," he said, his eyes on Catherine, who lifted her head slowly to look at him, "Nicolette says you were imprisoned in the Unseelie Court in Tir Na Nog. During that time, she does not know what happened to you. I ask you directly, and make sure you think wisely before you speak to me, in the time of your supposed imprisonment, did you enter into the service of Mab, the Unseelie Queen, with the intention of spying on my Court for her?"

Catherine didn't even need to think about it, and as she managed to hold Oberon's gaze, murmured, "No."

Oberon looked intensely at her; clearly probing her expression for more answers, but after a moment seemed to find none and sighed.

"Very well," he murmured. "Now, I will ask you to relay to me what occurred during your time as a prisoner of the Unseelie Court."

So Catherine, after a deep breath and exchanged looks between Nikki and Trinity, retold the story. How she and Demon had first stumbled into Tir Na Nog, and how, while he had gone off to search for a better place to hide and sleep, she had remained in a cave, only to be discovered by Rowan's Thornguards as they were making their rounds, and how they had dragged her all the way to the Unseelie Court to be presented to Mab as an intruder. She explained how the Queen at first had been intent on putting her to death, at which Nikki and Trinity turned to stare at her with horrified expressions, but how Rowan had intervened, saying he wanted time to interrogate her, and to find out who she was and where she had come from. She told Oberon of how she had spent a total of three days in the Court as its prisoner before Demon had finally managed to find a way into the dungeons to free her, and how they had made their escape from there. She left out the part where they returned, trading out her brief rest in the human world to make it sound that from the moment they left Winter territory they had encountered the red caps that had attacked them, and how from there she had met up with Nikki, Puck and Trinity at the healer's, also being sure to leave out the fact that the three had been accompanied by Ash and Meghan, remembering how Puck had explained earlier how disastrous it would be if Oberon found out that the Iron Queen had been in his territory, no matter how distantly. She ended with how, after a few more days rest at the healer's, they had been ready to return to Arcadia, and now arrived at the point where they stood.

Oberon listened silently the entire time, his expression contemplative, and when she finally drew to the close of her tale, feeling very weary and hoping he would not question her further, the Summer King fixed her with a penetrating look.

"So, that is all that happened," he said, and she felt relieved he didn't make it a question before he continued speaking, "And now you will make a venture to locate the Cait Sith who sired you."

"Yes, your majesty," she murmured, nodding her head minutely.

"And after you have found him," Oberon said, cocking his head to one side as though to better see her, "Do you intend to return to your human world?"

Catherine hesitated to answer, letting her eyes flicker to Trinity, who was looking at her hopefully, and then to Nikki, whose brown eyes were wide and anxious.

"No, your majesty," she answered quietly, feeling her stomach knot up as Oberon's eyes narrowed again. "I do not plan to return to the human world. I do not belong there."

"And you believe that you belong here?" Oberon asked in a quizzical tone.

"Yes, your majesty," Catherine said very quietly.

"And what of your human family?" the King asked. "Do you think they will not miss you?"

"I know they will," she said, lifting her head to meet his gaze head on. "But my mother raised me to find happiness for myself, and I know she would understand."

"How can she understand what she does not understand?" demanded Titania, apparently unable to keep her silence. "Your mortal mother, who may not even remember that you were born of a fey sire, could never hope to comprehend what you have given yourself to. Foolish child, you would be better suited to return to your world and forget this!"

"I cannot do that," said Catherine before she could think to stop herself, and watched as Titania's eyes widened at her blatant retort. "To go back to my world and pretend that this never happened would be lying to myself. Going back to the human world and convincing myself that I belong there would be the worst lie I could tell myself. And I know how you all feel about lies…"

She looked at Oberon as she said, and though she felt her heart go to her throat to see the Erkling watching her through narrowed eyes, and felt both Nikki's and Trinity's hands tighten around hers, she faced him without flinching, waiting to see what he would say. After a long moment, the King sighed, the sound like a great summer wind, and he closed his eyes.

"I cannot condone lying to oneself," he murmured at last, looking weary as he opened his eyes to gaze at her, a small frown on his face. "It goes against what we fey stand for. Very well, daughter of Cait Sith, I will not force you to leave once you have accomplished your journey, though you would do well to consider just how many months—perhaps even years—it will take you to accomplish it. This is as an entire world after all, and no world is small. There may not be many Cait Sith to seek out and question, but they may choose not to reveal themselves to you, and it will be up to you and your guide to locate each and every one of them, if need be."

"I understand," murmured Catherine, inclining her head to the King, who nodded as well, then turned his green gaze on Puck, who was standing, though he still had his head bowed.

"Robin Goodfellow," the Erkling rumbled, and Puck winced as he lifted his gaze to his King, "Consider yourself lucky that you are not the direct cause behind this mutiny. I will not punish you."

Puck heaved a sigh of relief and offered his King a small grin that Oberon did not return.

"Nicolette," he said, and Nikki took a shaky breath as she faced the great elf, "Though you deliberately went against my command to remain in the court and not to seek out your friend, I have to admire you for so blatantly turning a deaf ear to me. It is a trait few would dare to foster, and I am beginning to believe that the more time you spend in Goodfellow's company the more irksome the pair of you will become. However, I will overlook your disobedience in light of the trials you went through to seek out your friend and hope you have learned your lesson from here on."

Nikki breathed a silent sigh of her own and nodded to Oberon without speaking, relief shining in her brown eyes as she glanced at Puck, who grinned over his shoulder at her and winked.

"Lady Trinity," Oberon thundered, causing Trinity to visibly cringe, "Your father would never have stood for this kind of blatant disregard for authority. By going out into the wyldwood to search for Catherine you put your life at risk, and, had your father been alive to this day, I would have left it to him to decide the appropriate punishment for your negligence. However, he is no longer among us, and it falls to me to decide what must be done."

Trinity was chewing nervously on her lower lip, her blue eyes sparkling with evident unease as she looked up at the faery King. She had expected this, of course, but it didn't mean she was any more prepared for what he might do than if she hadn't known. After all, he had turned Demon into a human—at least for the time being. She didn't particularly want to think what the King might do to her.

But Oberon looked down on her for a long moment, not speaking, then sighed and gave her a weary look.

"I cannot even consider a single thing that would make you any more inclined to hear my commands," he said after another moment, sounding resigned. "You are too much like your father. Even if I tied you through magic to remain in this court for a century you would eventually go out on your own again regardless of what I say. So, I will do the only thing I can think of."

Trinity swallowed the lump forming in her throat, her brief relief evaporating quickly as the Erkling's voice rumbled with all the power of a summer tempest, filling every corner of the room.

"From now until the coming of Elysium," he declared, "You are not to set foot from this court. If you do, I will send both Nicolette and Catherine back to the human world, and the trods will never open for them again. Do I make myself perfectly clear, Lady Trinity, daughter of Lord Astrid?"

"Yes," said Trinity meekly, feeling her knees turn weak beneath her. "I understand."

"Good," said Oberon, settling back into his throne again, looking thoroughly exhausted. "Now, I have pressing matters to see to. You may leave now."

"Ah, a moment, my Lord," said Puck quickly, lifting a hand like a child in school to draw Oberon's attention onto him. "Since Catherine will be staying here for a short time before going to look for her father, is there any place she might rest? And Demon as well?"

"Of course," said Oberon, carelessly waving a hand to a corner, and several satyr girls scurried forward immediately, bowing to Catherine and Demon as they came up. "They will show them to their rooms. Be sure they are located close to Nicolette and Lady Trinity," he ordered the satyr girls, who bowed low in understanding before turning back to Catherine and Demon and beckoning for them to follow.

Still holding Nikki's and Trinity's hands, Catherine took a deep breath and walked from the great hall, not ignorant to the many stares leveled at her and her friends as they departed from the room with Puck behind them, and Demon beside him, still struggling to keep himself composed as they followed the satyr girls down the corridors leading away from the throne room.

"Man," whistled Puck once they were out of earshot of the hall, "I can't believe how lucky we got with that. I thought he'd turn me into a badger for sure!"

"No kidding," said Nikki with a shaky sigh. "I thought he might turn as all into toads and have done with it."

"Forget that," said Trinity, looking a little shaken up as well as she stared at her friends, "Did you see Titania's face?"

"You could have killed a whole army with that look," Puck said in a grave voice, but he was grinning. "She looked like she could have spit fire when Oberon told her to sit down. I thought for sure she'd go off on him for that! He usually never gets away with telling her what to do!"

Catherine didn't speak, and as Nikki turned to her friend, it was to see the girl in tears, staring at the ground as they walked.

"Hey, Cat, what's wrong?" Nikki asked immediately, halting in the center of the corridor and grabbing her friend's shoulder.

Trinity stopped as well, and Puck and Demon also froze. The satyr girls, realizing they had lost their group, also came to a halt several feet ahead of them, looking bewildered.

"Hey," said Trinity gently as Catherine lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes. "What's wrong, hon? Come on, it could have been so much worse than that."

"That's not it," mumbled Catherine, and she turned to Demon, her eyes glowing with regret and guilt. "Demon, I…I'm so sorry…"

It was pathetic to say, and she should have been able to do better, but she choked on a sob and couldn't speak anymore as she gazed up at the now human Cait Sith as he looked back down at her from behind his steel colored bangs.

"Enough, Catherine," he sighed, reaching forward to wipe at a tear on her cheek, looking half exasperated and half severe. "I knew the trouble that could happen if I brought you here and I meant it when I said I was ready to accept whatever repercussions would come. Oberon could have done much worse than this to me. He at least had the decency to let me keep my glamour intact. I will become used to this body. It is only a physical vessel, nothing more. And he will not keep me this way forever, only until he feels I have repented adequately."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Catherine hiccupped miserably, shaking her head. "You brought me here because I asked you to. He shouldn't have punished you in the first place."

"That is in the past," Demon said gently, "What is done is done and you are making a fool of yourself by crying over something so unnecessary."

"I thought he'd killed you at first," she admitted, wiping more forcefully at the tears in her eyes, "That's why I was so furious at first…I didn't know he'd just turned you…human…"

Demon snorted, rolling his eyes in totally human-like exasperation.

"Oberon may be strict," he said, "But he does not kill for such petty things. Besides, we cats are not so easily killed as that."

"Uh-huh," said Puck, giving the Cait Sith an appraising look, "Well, I'll keep that in mind the next time Lord Pointy Ears decides to call down lightning on me and I'll just remind myself it's not so bad as it turns everything in my body to a pile of mush."

Demon cast Puck a wry smirk, then turned back to Catherine, who was finally managing to get a grip on herself and was dabbing away the last of her tears.

"Come now," he sighed, lifting a hand to rub at her cheek where a tear stain shimmered dimly, "Let us go to our rooms and rest now. Since I suspect you will be in no mood to go anywhere without Lady Trinity, I suggest you we use the time until Elysium deciding how best to carry out the rest of our search. And we must still locate Sorrel."

"Well, you shan't have to look far, old friend," said a voice then, speaking from just ahead of them where the Satyr girls waited, causing them all to turn as one to see a pair of vibrant yellow eyes staring at them from the shadows. A moment later, a towering sidhe appeared, his gleaming orange hair like a living flame as he swept past the satyr girls, who bowed very low to him as he stepped by them.

"Sorrel," Demon said, sounding mildly surprised. "I was not expecting to see you so soon."

"Nor, I you, cousin," Sorrel said, a look of amusement in his eyes as he gave his kin a slow up and down, cocking his head to one side, the orange ears atop his head twitching sporadically. "When I received the word that my little kin had appeared in throne room I hastened to come meet you, but it seems I was a little late on the uptake. Not to mention I seem to have missed your punishment."

"It was nothing too exciting," said Demon dismissively.

"Ha," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "You keep talking about that lightning display like it was just a couple of sparklers on the Fourth of July."

"You are too easily amazed by the feat of your King, Goodfellow," sighed Demon, sounding resigned as Sorrel glanced in amusement at the Summer jester. "That was merely a parlor trick."

"Riiiight," said Puck disbelievingly, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway," said Demon, turning away from the Summer faery to address Sorrel, who was chuckling to himself, "It is good to have caught you so early, Sorrel. I have some important matters to discuss with you."

"Matters of which I already know about," said Sorrel, holding up a hand to stop Demon from speaking any further. "I know that you came seeking this girl's father"—he nodded towards Catherine—"and I am sorry to disappoint you in saying that I neither know who he might be, nor that he is me. I have never taken up with a human in all my years alive."

"I was afraid you might say that," said Demon, sounding weary. "And you are certain you do not know anyone who might have fathered her?"

"I am afraid I do not," said Sorrel with a shake of his head, his yellow eyes holding a silent apology. "As far as offering help goes, I would suggest you take it up with Lord Wrath."

"Lord Wrath?" Demon's eyes flashed in recognition at the name. "You think he would know who fathered her?"

"If anyone would, aside from the Cait Sith who did, it would be him," Sorrel said gravely. "As our King, you know he is the best advised on all matters regarding our people. It is highly unlikely that he would not have known that one of our kind consorted with a human, ending in the birth of a half blood child."

"Suggesting that also implies that he may already be aware of our presence here," Demon said.

"It is entirely possible," said Sorrel with a lame shrug. "And if he does not yet, he will soon. Word of your travels have already spread quite far, cousin. You are only lucky that Mab has not caught wind of your travels leading you here to Oberon's court, or I feel she would make travels here to demand she has the right to imprison the girl again."

"She has no such right," Demon said curtly, narrowing his eyes in cat-like fashion, and Catherine felt that if he still had a tail it would be twitching. "So, come if she may, she has no claim to the girl. And Lord Oberon would not permit her to make such a claim in any case. Not in Arcadia."

"Let us hope not," sighed Sorrel, his gaze traveling briefly over Catherine. "Now, I must go. I only had time for a brief visit but have other matters to see to. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Arcadia, and try not to raise too much ire from either Lord Oberon or Lady Titania."

"Believe me, we won't," murmured Demon. Sorrel gave a brief smile, then turned to look at Catherine, who was surprised when he bowed to her.

"It was an honor to meet you, daughter of my kin," he said, taking her hand in his and pressing a light kiss to it. "I hope wherever your journeys may take you that you find what you seek."

"Oh, th-thank you," stammered Catherine, startled as Sorrel straightened up, his yellow eyes roaming once more over her face before he nodded, inclined his head to Puck, Nikki and Trinity, then turned and swept out of sight down another hall behind them.

"Nice guy," said Puck with something like appreciation in his voice. "You know, the more Cait Siths I meet, the more convinced I am that Grimalkin is just a crabby old fart."

"Then you are being misled, Goodfellow," sighed Demon as they started up again following the satyr girls. "Grimalkin is the very representation of our kind. Sorrel and I are the rare exceptions to the rule. Not including Lord Wrath, that is."

"Who is Lord Wrath?" Nikki asked curiously.

"I was just about to ask that, too," said Puck, turning to Demon with an eyebrow cocked. "And was that about him being your _King_? I didn't think your people even had a King."

"Lord Wrath tends to avoid making a spectacle of himself as your King and Mab do," Demon said with a bored look in Puck's direction. "He does not like being acknowledged as a Monarch, though if you were to ask Oberon about him you would be sure to hear a lot more on him. He is the oldest of our kind, and has been here since before the Creator's first human children set foot in the Garden of Paradise."

"Damn old cat," muttered Puck, envisioning a rickety old cat with faded gray fur and long whiskers hunched over in a cat bed, hacking up fur balls.

"Old, yes," agreed Demon softly, "But very powerful. Not even Mab or Oberon has the nerve to confront him directly."

"You mean to tell me that they're afraid of him?" asked Puck, sounding disbelieving.

"That is exactly what I'm telling you," said Demon as the satyr girls finally stopped outside a pair of doors and bowed as they pushed them open, allowing the small troupe to step into a grand bedroom.

Two large beds stood at one end, great canopy beds with gossamer curtains floating down the floor. Great wooden trunks stood at the end of each bed, and Catherine suspected they either held new sheets or were meant for the storage of clothing. A fireplace stood across from the beds, empty for the moment, but the satyr girls quickly scurried to light a fire and in a few short moments had a roaring blaze glowing as they bowed out of the room, leaving the group alone.

"So, if Mab and Oberon are so scared of this Lord Wrath," said Puck, throwing himself down on one the beds, looking thoughtful, "Why haven't we heard of him before now? I've been around a hell of a long time and this is the first time I'm hearing about him."

"Think about it, Goodfellow," sighed Demon, sounding weary as he leaned against the wall by the fire. "Why would the Winter Queen and Summer King—the two most revered leaders in the whole Nevernever aside from Meghan Chase, the Iron Queen—want to admit they have a fear second to that of the Iron Kingdom taking over Faery? The Winter Court, which detests showing weakness in any form, would never want to disclose the fact that there is a being out there in the shadows that could so easily bring them to their knees. And Oberon and Titania would risk losing their credibility in front of their supporters if they admitted that a mere cat"—he sneered the words—"could so easily bring an end to their Court if he so desired."

"This Wrath seems like a pretty powerful cat," murmured Nikki, looking stunned as she took a seat beside Puck on one of the canopy beds.

"As I said," murmured Demon, "He is the oldest of us all. And thus the most powerful. While others who used to prowl the world with him have chosen to vanish from this world, he has remained and endured. And one gifted with such power as what he was blessed with by the Morningstar is surely someone to be feared."

Catherine paused at the familiar name of Morningstar, and glanced over at Demon, a frown on her face.

"Morningstar?" Nikki murmured, apparently on a similar thought line to Catherine as she turned to give Demon a bewildered look. "Isn't that the name people used to call Satan by when he was still an angel?"

"You speak as though they no longer call him that," said Demon with a small snort, "Though, I suppose in your world it would be considered a kind of heresy to continue addressing a fallen angel by his revered name."

"You mean Satan gave power to your King?" Trinity asked, looking stricken.

"You humans," sighed Demon, looking completely exasperated. "You have been fed the stories of your kind and have been blinded as a result. The stories you heard of the Morningstar when was supposedly cast out have been warped by the superstitions and jealousy of your ancestors. Though he is the guardian angel of the Underworld, he is not quite the black shadow of temptation your kind has painted him to be in all the stories you tell in your churches and places of worship. He was, indeed, cast from paradise, but he still remained a son of the Creator, and the Creator has never been a heartless being. He mourned for the loss of his child after he'd sent him to the bleak landscape that was this entire world, or, at least, the human world. Faery did not exist as of yet…"

"It didn't?" Nikki looked stunned by this information.

"How could it?" said Puck quietly. "Faery was brought into existence by the imagination and dreams of humans. Without humans, it couldn't exist."

"Oh," murmured Nikki, looking back at him with understanding. "So…" She turned back to Demon, "When Satan—I mean Morningstar—fell here, it was just…empty?"

"Yes," murmured Demon, nodding. "The only things on the earth at that time were cats, and though Morningstar encountered many of them, none of them came close to him, except Wrath, even though that was not his name then. It is not clear what he was called all that time ago. All that's known is that in the Morningstar's time of need, when he was weak and alone in the world, despairing and grieving, Wrath approached him and led him to a spring to drink, and brought him food to eat to replenish his strength. He acted as his guide and constant companion until many decades later, when the Creator finally gave Morningstar a place to guard and to command. The Underworld. Or, as you humans call it, Hell. Since Wrath could not follow Morningstar to the Underworld, Morningstar finally set him free of being his guide, and granted him power and longevity beyond all other cats, and christened him with a new name: Morningstar's Wrath. From that point on, Wrath walked alone, never coming near to anyone else, and no one else ventured near to him. He stayed in the shadows and was happy there. Some centuries later, after the passing of the Great Flood, he was appointed the King of Cats, as he had managed to save many of our kind from their deaths, though it is not sure how he did it."

"Jeez, this guy has some kind of hero complex going for him," muttered Puck, looking positively amazed as he stared at Demon, not quite sure if he should really believe what he was hearing.

"It's no wonder Mab and Oberon are so scared of him," Trinity murmured, looking equally awestruck. "Can you imagine? Someone with that kind of power and that many centuries of living? They've got every right to be terrified of him."

"They'd be stupid if they weren't," muttered Nikki, shaking her head. "And I'm starting to think Sorrel is right to say it's best to go to him first if you're going to go looking for Cat's dad. If anyone would know where he is, it would be Wrath."

"Finding Wrath is no easy task," sighed Demon, looking weary again as he folded his arms over his chest and stared into the flickering orange embers of the fire. "Though he has lived in the same place for countless centuries, if he does not wish to be found, it is more likely you'll find yourself walking in circles trying to find him until you finally give up."

"So, he's like every other Cait Sith on the planet when it comes down to shyness," joked Puck. "Great. So, if we can't find him, how do we ask him where to find Cat's dad?"

"If I know Wrath," said Demon softly, "He will come to us."

He raised his yellow-green eyes to Catherine then, and continued in a low voice,

"A half human daughter of a Cait Sith is not something he has ever heard of, and after all his centuries alive it would be unusual if he did not at least show himself briefly to see you for himself."

"So we wait?" Catherine asked him, frowning.

"It is all we can do for now," he sighed, shrugging. "Especially since Trinity is on temporary house arrest by command of Oberon. Even if we decided to look for Wrath, I am not so blind to not see you would want her and Nicolette to come with us, and, of course, Goodfellow."

Catherine glanced around at her circle of her friends, all of whom offered her small smiles, even Puck, who winked.

"You're right," she admitted at last with a defeated sigh.

"Then it's settled," said Demon firmly. "We will rest here for as long as we can, and then, if you still desire to, we will see if we cannot find Lord Wrath, assuming he has not found us beforehand."

"And with that concluded," Puck said, giving a huge yawn, "I think I'll grab a couple apples from the kitchen and turn in. All this running around and nearly getting turned into a badger by Lord Pointy Ears has got me bushed and I'm ready to hop in bed and clock out."

"Me, too," agreed Nikki, suddenly realizing how tired she was. Trinity nodded her agreement, and they rose to leave.

"You'll be okay on your own?" Nikki asked, turning back to Catherine, who smiled and nodded. "We're right across the hall from you, so if anything shows up in the middle of the night, just scream and we'll come running."

"Don't worry," said Catherine with a slight giggle, "I will. You guys get some rest; I think I'll do the same, too."

She missed the speculative look Demon gave her as Nikki and Trinity came over to hug Catherine before leaving the room. Puck excused himself as well after clapping Catherine heartily on the back and disappearing to his own room. Closing the door behind them, Catherine turned to Demon, and found the Cait Sith watching her through narrowed yellow-green eyes.

Feeling her heart hammer a little harder than usual against her ribcage she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" she asked, though she felt nervous.

He eyed her for a moment longer, not moving, then sighed and pushed off from the wall, striding past her to the door. "Get ready for bed," he instructed her, much to her amazement, "I'll fetch the nightshade."

"Wha—Demon!" But the Cait Sith was already out of the room, leaving her to huff in annoyance at his pompousness before walking over to the bed, pausing one she got there as she realized she didn't really have any night clothes to change into.

Kicking off her Converse and placing them at the edge of the bed, she was contemplating just sleeping in her jeans and t-shirt when a light knock came at the door. Turning, half expecting it to be Demon back already, she called,

"Come in!"

The door creaked open, and one of the satyr girls from before appeared, a bundle of clothes in her arms, and hurried over to place them on the bed and rushing out again before Catherine could thank her. Sighing as she realized she probably wouldn't have much chance to speak to anyone in the Court, if any of them wanted to speak to her to begin with, she turned to the clothes on the bed and carefully lifted the top item, letting it unfold in her hands so she was gazing down at a shimmering green nightgown. Setting it aside for the moment, she unfolded the other articles of clothing, and discovered a tunic and slacks made for someone of Demon's build.

Setting them on the other bed for him to change into when he returned, she quickly slipped out of her own clothes and into the nightgown, which flowed over her skin like silk and nearly brushed the floor as it touched her toes. Much to her chagrin, it was a nightgown of a similar style to one she had worn when in Tir Na Nog, showing too much chest as though it were a fashion statement. Feeling her stomach lurch at the thought of who had given her that particular nightgown, she quickly stifled the memory and slid into bed just as a sharp rap on the door alerted her to Demon's return, and a moment later the Cait Sith was stepping into the room with a small beaker of midnight blue nightshade potion in his hands.

"That was quick," she remarked, watching as he drew level with her and handed her the potion.

"The Seelie Court's healer has a prepared stock for emergencies, apparently," said Demon with a lame shrug. "He didn't even ask why I wanted it, just handed it to me and told me to clear out of his way so he could get on with more important things."

"I'm starting to think all healers get cranky when they have people in their way," sighed Catherine, gazing down into the midnight potion with a small smile. "That sounds just like something Spindle would say…"

"It does," agreed Demon with a sigh, and as she heard a slight rustling from where he was standing she glanced around to see him shedding the black tunic he was wearing, which had appeared on him when Oberon had first turned him human.

Catherine felt her face heat up immediately as she caught sight of a well toned abdomen and muscular chest, and quickly averted her gaze as Demon turned back towards her.

"Drink it, Catherine," he instructed her when he saw her simply sitting there, continuing to toy with the potion.

"I'm getting to it," she grumbled, refusing to look at him.

Demon eyed her for a long moment, noticing the faint tinge in her cheeks, and sighed with exasperation as she glanced once at him and quickly looked away again.

"If you're going to ogle this human form of mine, I recommend you go ahead and get it out of your system," he told her coolly.

"I wasn't ogling you," she denied.

"Oh, what a lie," he snorted.

"It is not," she mumbled.

"Then just what were you doing?" he inquired, arching a silvery eyebrow, hands on his toned hips.

She glanced wordlessly at him, turned scarlet, and quickly lifted the potion to her lips with every intention of knocking it back, but his hand shot forward in an inhumanely fast movement and covered the rim of it just before she could get it to her mouth.

"Uh-uh," he said, narrowing his eyes at her as he forced the potion away from her. "You're not getting out of it that easily. Now, answer the question. If you weren't ogling me, what were you doing?"

Catherine glared at him, and he smirked in pure male amusement, which did nothing to help the color of her cheeks.

"I wasn't ogling," she mumbled.

"We've clarified that," Demon said idly. "Now answer what you _were _doing, if you'd be so kind."

Catherine nibbled on her lip, glanced once more at him, then ducked her head and mumbled,

"I was admiring you. Happy?"

"Thrilled," he said dryly. "I suppose I should be flattered that you consider this form attractive."

He lifted his hand from the glass and stepped away to drag the light green sleeping tunic over his head, though after standing a few moments and tugging irritably at it he seemed to reconsider and yanked it off, tossing it aside and slipping into his bed, still in his black slacks.

"Drink the potion," he said when he'd glanced over to see she was still staring down into it like it might bite her.

"I hate needing this," she muttered, half to herself, lifting the glass slightly until the rim was a few centimeters away from her lips.

"It won't be forever," he murmured, for a moment reassuring as he rolled onto his back, facing the ceiling. "Just for now…Now drink it and get to sleep. I imagine tomorrow will be a busy day."

She knew he was right, and so after a few long moments of still staring vaguely into the glass, her mind running through everything that had happened to her that day, she heaved a sigh as she realized everything could wait until morning and carefully tipped back the flask to empty the small amount of nightshade from it. Her brain was instantly hazy, and her body grew heavy with fatigue, and she barely managed to set the glass down on the nightstand beside her before she was dropping her head to the pillow, and letting her eyes drift shut in sleep. The last thing she remembered seeing was Demon's yellow-green eyes—much too human to be familiar—staring at her through the black clouding around the edges of her consciousness, and then she was asleep, floating in a sea of dark, dreamless slumber.


	16. Chapter 16

Catherine had known the amount of nightshade she had taken—both on the night after they had left Spindle's and that night in Arcadia—wouldn't be enough to give her the endless, impenetrable sleep she had welcomed during her five day comatose state at the healer's. Still, she had hoped, at least, that perhaps the dosage would be enough to keep her from enduring some of the most horrifying nightmares she remembered having in a very long time. Each nightmare was almost exactly the same, save a few minor details, like location and time, but each dream constituted the same major piece. A tall figure, with flowing black hair and piercing green eyes, watching her coldly from the shadows as she trudged helplessly through the snow, calling out to them for aid. But they never once came nearer to her, and though she thought she would eventually reach them, the more steps she took through the icy terrain, the further they seemed to get from her, though they never once shifted, or blinked. Those icy green eyes remained fixed on her face, condemning her, laughing at her, and as she took a final step forward, her knees gave out from beneath her so she landed sprawled in the snow as it whipped around her, though it wasn't quite as cold as she would have expected lying face down in the icy powder. Rather, it was warm and soft, like down, and an even warmer heat was pressed into her stomach, shifting occasionally as she rolled onto her side, and opened her eyes.

The winter scene vanished instantly, and her blurry eyes blinked in the sudden light of the morning sunlight filtering in through the gossamer curtains hanging around the large bed she lay on, her arms tucked against her chest as she stared blearily around her, not quite sure where she was. Lifting her head slightly, feeling as though she were lifting a ton of bricks with the effort, she blinked several times more to clear her hazy vision and bring the room into focus, noting a stone fireplace across from her, though the flames that had been there from the night before had disappeared and only a fine layer of ash remained.

That was right, she thought with a slight groan, letting her head drop back onto the pillow, putting a hand over her face. She wasn't in winter, trying to reach the side of a Prince who would never look twice at her. She was in Arcadia, where Puck and Nikki and Trinity had led her to meet with Oberon and Titania to see if they would let her stay in the Summer Court before going to search for her father. Of course, the Summer Queen had been ready to have her imprisoned or possibly executed as being a spy for Mab, but Oberon had not considered any such mistreatment, and had offered her safe haven here, along with Demon. Demon, who he had punished for bring her here by turning him into a human, though he still had all of his magical capabilities to keep him safe if the need arose. Demon, who, now that she looked over at the opposite bed where the Cait Sith _should_ have been, was missing.

The sheets of the bed were thrown back, and the space where the Cait Sith had been resting the night before as she'd fallen asleep was empty, not even with the slightest dent in it to suggest he had been there in quite some time. She found that unusual. Demon was one of the laziest people she had ever met, even for a cat, and, though when he liked to get moving he got moving, she didn't understand why he would be up before her. Especially considering that as she looked out through the glass window into the glittering sunlight it just seemed that it was barely past early morning. Maybe, she thought, yawning and stretching her arms over her head, he'd been unable to sleep well in his human form and had gotten up early to contemplate what to do next. Or maybe he'd gone to speak to Sorrel again about something or other.

She sighed, deciding she'd look for him as soon as she got up, and was about to lift herself into a sitting position when something warm and alive shifted subtly against her stomach, giving a low groan. Freezing on the spot, feeling her heart lodge in her throat, she glanced down to where the warmth she had imagined in her dream now stirred with very realistic movements, and felt her eyes grow as wide as saucers to see Demon's steel colored head there, nuzzled up against her side. The rest of the Cait Sith was stretched out towards the edge of the bed, his feet dangling off the edge, and he had a hand resting lightly on her knee. His eyes were closed, his dark lashes fanning out in black crescents on his cheek, and he was fast asleep.

Catherine stared in shocked disbelief down at the Cait Sith, feeling her heart jack hammering away in her chest as she gaped stupidly at the man—the currently _human_, _half naked man!_—curled around her legs with his head just beneath her chest, and felt an inevitable heat creeping up her neck and into her face until she felt like her chest might just burst open. She could feel herself trembling slightly with mortification as Demon's hand tightened on her knee and he nuzzled closer with a low mumble that she didn't quite make out the words of, and had to remind herself to take deep breaths before she could start hyperventilating. She had to stay calm and be logical she told herself. This was perfectly normal. Demon obviously had forgotten sometime in the night that he was currently a very attractive human male instead of a cuddly feline and had hopped into her bed and curled up with her just like he normally would. This didn't mean anything otherwise. She just had to assess the situation and act accordingly.

Still taking very deep, deliberate breaths, she reached behind her, groping for the edge of the bed, and when she managed to grip it she began to carefully drag herself backwards, away from Demon. Just when she was making progress, though, the Cait Sith shifted in his sleep, muttering unintelligibly, and stretched an arm out in his sleep to lock around her waist, dragging her right back to where she'd started, and also ensuring that she couldn't manage to reach the edge of the bed for another attempt at escaping. Damn…

Alright, she thought, still taking deep, steadying breaths, trying not to be overly conscious of Demon's face becoming perilously close to her breasts. Alright, she could still do this…she just had to think.

"Demon," she hissed, a sudden inspiration occurring, and she poked him hard in the arm. "Demon, wake up!"

The Cait Sith heaved a sigh but otherwise did not react or give any indication that he'd woken up at all, and instead tightened his grip further and nuzzled her stomach so she felt a shiver run the length of her spine, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and almost whimpered despairingly as she realized unless she did something drastic she probably wouldn't wake the cat-man up. So…what was drastic without being over exuberantly carried off? She contemplated screaming at the top of her lungs, but she suspected that would just land her in hot water with whatever courtiers came running to see what the ruckus was about, and she didn't particularly care to incur Oberon's mighty wrath this early in the morning when she'd just managed to make nice with the Erkling the night before. So, no screaming. She could kick him, she thought, but glancing down and realizing her legs were still not in the best position to inflict damage without causing severe trauma to some of Demon's more precious parts made her reconsider and she whimpered again as she began running out of ideas for an escape route.

"Demon," she hissed desperately, smacking him on the arm, "Wake up!"

He grumbled quietly under his breath, not quite awake, but not fast asleep either, and shifted very subtly, heaving a sigh against her stomach that wasn't quite staved off by the almost sheer nightgown she was wearing. Which, to her horror and humiliation, was beginning to slip off of her shoulders the tighter Demon squeezed her, and though she made several attempts to yank it back up, his grip was too tight and she couldn't get it to budge unless she wanted to risk tearing the fabric. Give a couple more inches, though, and she would sooner tear the fabric apart than let it slip any farther. She had to act—fast!

"Demon," she snapped, raising her voice now and giving the Cait Sith a rough push in the shoulder, which felt like a solid mass of muscle beneath her fingers. "Wake up already! You're in my bed!"

He muttered again, his expression darkening and he seemed to stir a little more, though still not enough for her to have fully woken him. She was preparing to just let him have it right across the back of his head—the only really good place she could hope to land a blow in their current situation—when there was a very light knock on her door and she started in alarm, head whipping around to fix emerald eyes on the door.

"Cat?" Nikki's voice called timidly. "You awake?"

"Yes," said Cat, not quite managing to hide the frantic note in her voice as she glanced down at the still slumbering Demon as he pressed his face into her stomach, grumbling in his sleep. "Help me!"

Nikki was in the room immediately, brown eyes wide as they scanned for danger, only to spark with disbelief as they settled on Catherine's petrified face, and then Demon as the cat-man lay asleep, latched onto her friend, who looked about ready to faint, or scream, or both.

"What the hell?" demanded Nikki, striding over to stare down at Demon.

"I don't even know," said Catherine desperately, tugging at the front of her nightgown as a movement from Demon caused it to slip down a couple more centimeters, "I just woke up and he was like this. I think sometime in the middle of the night he forgot he wasn't a cat anymore and climbed in bed with me like he normally would."

Nikki wasn't sure if she should laugh or be appalled. The whole situation was just the worst possible mixture of things and she was having a hard time keeping a straight face as she gazed down in amusement at Demon's peaceful sleeping face as the Cait Sith huddled close to Catherine, though the effect of the cuteness he was radiating was marred slightly by the fact he was a very real, very muscular, very attractive human man.

"I don't even know what to say," Nikki admitted at last, straightening up, hands on her hips and shaking her head in disbelief. "This is just…man."

"This is messed up," said Catherine, looking caught between panicked and furious as her nightshift slipped even further. "And if he keeps moving like that I'm going to lose my dignity!"

"And we certainly can't have that," snickered Nikki, but at a glare from Catherine she sobered up. "I'll go get Puck. He'll know what to do."

"No!" gasped Catherine, hand shooting out to latch onto her friend's wrist before Nikki could take two steps away from the bed. "No! Not Puck! That is the _worst _thing we could ask for right now. He'll come in here and laugh his ass off."

"And that'll probably wake Demon up," Nikki pointed out, though she allowed Catherine to drag her back.

"No," the girl said firmly, shaking her head so her copper tresses went dancing in all directions. "Just _no_. I like Puck a lot, Nikki, but this is where I draw the line."

"Then what would you like to do, dear?" sighed Nikki, looking resignedly at her friend. "You can't just sit like that until he wakes up. You might be naked by then."

"I was hoping you might smack him, since you're here," Catherine said with a feeble smile and hopeful glance at Nikki, who arched an eyebrow. "I was about to do it when you knocked."

"Then why don't you do it now?"

"Because my gown is about to come right off of my chest, Nik! I kind of need both hands at this point."

"Right," said Nikki with a sigh, looking exasperated and amused at once, and leaned over Demon, scanning for the best spot to possibly attack the unsuspecting Cait Sith. "Too bad he doesn't still have his tail. I'd just pull on that and be done with it."

"Trust me, the same thought crossed my mind," said Catherine tersely. "Now please hurry, I'm getting desperate."

"Alright, just hold your breath and hope he doesn't still have his claws somehow hidden in his fingers," Nikki told her, pulling back her hand only to let it fly a second later to smack Demon hard across the back of the head. "Wake up!" she snapped.

Nothing happened. Demon continued to lay there as though absolutely nothing had disrupted him, and his eyes remained shut as he breathed deeply.

"Well son of a bitch," muttered Nikki, looking stunned as she lifted her hand and rubbed her knuckles. "If that doesn't wake him up, I don't know what will! That hurt my hand!"

"Try one more time," pleaded Catherine, who was now keeping a death grip on the straps of her gown, feeling very much like Fate was just being too cruel to her so early in the morning.

"Alright," sighed Nikki, rolling her eyes. "But I don't think it'll work."

She was lifting her hand in the air when Demon cracked an eye open and growled,

"Don't even think about it."

"Oh, it lives!" said Nikki, grinning as she dropped her hand. "I thought you were dead maybe, but somehow your body forgot to stop breathing when you died."

Demon gave a snort of derision, letting his eyes fall shut again, but they didn't stay that way for long as Catherine threw a fist straight into his shoulder, as hard as she could, and he jerked up with an irritated mutter, turning to look at her through tired yellow-green eyes as she glared up at him.

"What was that for?" he asked, stifling a yawn as he levered himself up onto his elbows, no longer holding onto her so she could finally yank her gown back into its proper place.

"You cretin!" she snapped at him. "You know _exactly _what that was for!"

"I actually can't say I do," he said idly, "Hence my questioning the matter. Now, why did you hit me? Really."

"Because 1: you are in my bed," she said furiously, "2: you were practically yanking my nightgown off of me in your sleep, and 3: you pretended to be asleep after Nikki hit you and almost caused a very traumatic experience to me by also continued to pull my gown off!"

"It was unintentional," sighed Demon, rolling his eyes as she finally pushed himself into a sitting position. "And you are overreacting. I sleep next to you all the time."

"That was when you were a _cat!_" she said, aiming a kick at him that he had to quickly slide off the bed to avoid.

"I am still a cat," he said tiredly, rolling his eyes as he stood by the bedside, either oblivious to Nikki's smirk or simply choosing to ignore it as the girl glanced at him.

"No, you are a man," Cat said heatedly, sitting up and fixing him with a rather poisonous glare.

"You humans are such incredibly strange creatures," Demon said, sounding completely exasperated. "If something is one way you are fine with it and if it is another you are not, even if it is the same thing."

"A cat and a man are not the same thing," she told him coldly, deliberately ignoring the way Nikki was full out grinning now. "I am fine with a cat sleeping next to me. _Not _a full grown man."

"I am still the same person, Catherine," Demon said, "The same mentality and all. Merely my physical form is different."

"And that makes all the difference I need," Catherine sniffed. "From now on, stay in your own bed."

Demon cocked an eyebrow at her as she turned her head pointedly away from him, and Nikki gave a low snicker behind her hand.

"Is this to say that so long as I am in human form I am now allowed to share space with you when you sleep?" Demon inquired idly.

"Yes," said Catherine stiffly.

"And what of when I return to being a cat?" he asked. "Will I be permitted to sleep next to you then?"

"Maybe," she replied without looking at him. "I'll have to think about it."

"Ridiculous," muttered Demon, rolling his eyes skyward and turning his back to walk over to his bed and pick up his black tunic from the night before. "I had anticipated, of course, that this form would be troublesome, but I never thought it would prove to be so troublesome in such a short amount of time. Especially regarding something as inconsequential as this. Really…"

"Inconsequential by whose standards, I wonder," said Catherine in a clipped tone. "It is totally consequential to me. You almost yanked my gown off!"

"As I said, an accidental incident," sighed Demon, sounding totally exasperated as he yanked his tunic over his head and turned back to her with a critical yellow-green gaze.

Nikki was still getting used to the Cait Sith's current form, but she was at least enjoying how much more easily she could read his expressions. Like now, it was so much simpler to see that he was annoyed as he half frowned, half glared at Catherine, and the girl continued to look in the opposite direction of him.

"Well," she said, still in that rather curt voice, "To prevent any more 'accidents', you're staying in your own bed from now on."

"And if I do not?" asked Demon, his eyebrows raising almost to his silvery bangs.

"I wouldn't push it, Demon," snickered Nikki as Catherine finally turned around to level a deadly glare at the Cait Sith. "You might be good looking to her, but she'll still lay you flat on your ass if you push her too far. If she doesn't want to share the bed with you until you're a cat again, I suggest just letting the issue die."

"I would at least like a decent explanation for why I have to endure the chill of sleeping in my own bed if I am going to be forced to do so," Demon said coolly, and Catherine snorted.

"We are in Arcadia," she told him. "It isn't cold here, Demon!"

"I have no fur," he said, and sounded so distinctly dejected by that little fact that Nikki could help but laugh, especially with the genuinely pathetic look that came onto Demon's face as the Cait Sith frowned at Catherine, who did her best to sit there and look unmoved, though it was difficult.

"You are such a baby," she told him with a small huff, "That's what the blankets are for!"

"Blankets only hold in generated heat," Demon said. "They do not create it. Being as I am now, I cannot produce as much natural body heat as I am accustomed to, and therefore last night it was quite cold."

"This is just sad," muttered Catherine, rolling her emerald eyes and looking away again while Nikki continued to giggle. "And you're not helping!"

"I'm sorry," Nikki said through a chortle, wiping at her tearing eyes, "I just think is the most hysterical-slash-adorable thing I've ever seen. The guy is cold because he's got no fur and you're telling him to keep to his side of the room. Man…this is too great. I really need to go get Puck for this."

"You can tell him all about it at breakfast," Demon told her dully, "Goodfellow does not need to be in here causing me any more grief than the two of you at such an hour. And I was completely ready to sleep for another good few hours, since we won't have much to do."

"What was that about having a long day ahead of us?" Catherine asked lightly. "You know, last night, when you were bossing me around to take my medicine and all that saying I needed to get to sleep ASAP to be ready for our big long day today?"

"You are testing my patience," Demon told her, giving her a rather dark look. "And I am not convinced in the least that I need to stay on the other end of the room solely for the purpose you keeping your nightgown on. Pin it, if it bothers you so terribly, or ask for a more suitable covering."

"You are such a pig!" she exclaimed, staring at him. "You really don't care if I lose my dress because you decided you needed some extra body heat, do you?"

"Not particularly, no," he said without remorse, arms folded across his chest as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Now, I would recommend getting up and getting dressed. I can here Oberon coming."

"How the hell can you hear that?" demanded Nikki, who was automatically tuning her hearing for sounds out in the hall, though she couldn't hear a thing.

"Because I am a cat," he said simply, giving a little sniff of indignation as he swept by to enter another room that was adjacent to the bedroom—it turned out to be a bathroom. "Regardless of what other people might think."

He closed the door firmly behind him, and Catherine made a face after him while Nikki merely looked entertained.

"He's really sore about this whole thing, isn't he?" she said with a grin at Catherine. "Not being able to sleep in bed with you and all that. Man, I thought he was just kidding, but he's really going to complain about it if you say no."

"I don't care," said Catherine tersely, throwing back the covers around her and standing up, throwing a glare at the closed door as she heard the sound of rushing water start from beyond. "He can deal with it. And how do they have running water here?!"

Nikki smirked. This was going to be a fun day. She could tell. It wasn't even nine in the morning and Cat was already flustered as all get out from waking up with a previously feline-now human Cait Sith in her bed.

"They have private waterfalls feeding to every room in the palace," she explained casually, briefly averting her eyes as Catherine slipped out of her gown and back into her regular clothes. "And I don't think you'll be wearing those clothes for long today. Unfortunately, Lord Pointy Ears hates regular human clothes being worn in his court."

She grimaced as she said it, and as Catherine turned it was to see Nikki plucking idly at the flowing burgundy gown she wore. Catherine hadn't even noticed her friend was wearing it before, and now stared as she took in the silken fabric that flowed like red water to the floor and pooled around her friend's bare feet. Nikki grinned wryly and shrugged, causing the shimmering sleeves of her ensemble to sparkle like rubies.

"It's his pet peeve," she explained. "All the people in the court dress nice like this, unless they're the hired help, since most of them don't really wear clothes of any sort in the first place. It's just how he does things. I wouldn't be surprised if he walks in here with someone to take your measurements, since they didn't get around to it last night."

"Goody," sighed Catherine, raking a hand agitatedly through her copper hair and frowning down at her slightly dirty jeans and black t-shirt. "Just what I wanted. A dress. Right after I just nearly had a wardrobe malfunction with the first one they gave me, thanks to that no good…"

She trailed off in an irritated grumble as Nikki smirked at her.

"You think he's hot," her friend said, brown eyes glittering with amusement.

"So what?" said Catherine, a little defensively.

"I'm not judging you," Nikki reassured her immediately, offering a smile as she reached out to nudge her friend's arm. "I'm just saying. He's got some good human genes working for him, even if he hates the way he is for now. He's just damn lucky Oberon let him keep his glamour in function. That would have made it a lot harder for the both of you if you were going to go out looking for your dad soon. You wouldn't really be able to protect yourselves, or he wouldn't really be able to protect you. You haven't learned how to use your glamour yet, have you?"

Catherine shook her head and Nikki nodded as though she'd been expecting that.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she sighed, frowning a bit at her friend, who looked a little depressed. "You will soon, though. Even if Demon can't show you much as a human, I bet Sorrel could."

"But would Sorrel help?" Catherine wondered, and Nikki thought about it a moment before shrugging.

"He might," she said with a small smile. "I mean, he seemed really nice last night and all of that. He seemed sorry that he didn't know more about your dad."

"Yeah," murmured Catherine, nodding slightly, and remembering how Sorrel seemed to have been the only one in the entire Seelie Court so far who hadn't given her a dirty look when he'd crossed her. "Maybe…"

"Ah, you're awake."

The voice that spoke startled both Nikki and Catherine, and they turned to see the towering figure of Oberon standing in the doorway, flanked by two satyr girls both carrying bundles of what looked like brightly colored blue silk.

"Good," the Erkling said as he moved into the room, continuing from his introductory statement, "I had not been certain if you already had risen or not."

His green eyes briefly scanned the room, alighting on Demon's empty bed, then flickering to the bathroom door where the rush of water was still clearly discernible.

"How is the Cait Sith this morning?" he asked, surprising both Nikki and Catherine.

"Fine," Catherine answered automatically, and Oberon cocked an eyebrow. "I mean…"

"We're not really sure," Nikki said, coming to the rescue and offering a small smile and a lame shrug. "They both just kind of woke up a few minutes ago when I came in. He's kind of grouchy right now, but that's because he wanted to sleep a bit longer and we didn't give him the chance. He'll probably be fine after he's taken a bath."

Oberon nodded slowly in understanding, then turned back to Catherine, snapping his fingers so the satyr girls scurried forward with their bundles to stand in front of Catherine, who looked uncertainly between them before she glanced up at Oberon.

"Your new clothes," he explained simply, and the satyr girls let their bundles fall open so Catherine was staring at two of the most beautiful silk gowns she had ever seen. One a light sky blue color with silver stitching around the hems of the sleeves that seemed to flow like water in the satyr's hands, and the other a deep emerald that shimmered and sparkled before her eyes as it was offered to her by the other girl. "I had them made last night so you might begin wearing them immediately. I am not sure how much Nicolette managed to tell you before or during your arrival, but I do not particularly care for human clothing to be worn in my court, and I request that you wear this during the time you are here. Of course, for Elysium, you will be made a new gown much more suitable to the occasion, but these should suffice for your everyday wanderings around the Palace, since you will not be required to be present in the Court for matters of state."

"Oh," said Catherine, blinking rapidly as she looked between the gowns and then up at Oberon. "Thank you…they're beautiful."

The Erkling nodded, his expression unreadable, then turned to Nikki.

"I hope you will take the time to show Catherine around the palace," he instructed her, and Nikki—though a little irked at the commanding tone of his voice—nodded nonetheless. "Trinity will be needed in the court today for a brief while, but she will join you around noontime. Robin Goodfellow will also be your constant escort and watch during your stay here. As I have said that Trinity is not permitted to leave until the passing of Elysium, I suspect none of you will leave until then as well, and I ask that you be sure not to run rampant through the grounds or palace and causing trouble."

"Of course," said Nikki, bobbing her head in understanding. "Don't worry, we'll be good."

She flashed him a smile that had him cocking an eyebrow, but then he seemed to decide it wasn't worth saying anything else and after a brief nod to both of them he swept out of the room in silence. The satyr girls carefully draped the gowns across Catherine's bed and bowed before scurrying from their presence as well, closing the door quietly behind them.

"Well," sighed Nikki, turning to smile at Catherine, "That was a lot more than I'd expected. I thought he'd have to have Lady Weaver come in and look you over, though I'm starting to suspect she was there last night and got a good enough look then for her to work her magic."

"Lady Weaver?" Catherine asked, bewildered.

"She's the castle's seamstress," Nikki explained with a lame shrug, and gestured to her dress, "She makes everyone's clothes. Or at least the ones for the nobility and the close friends like you and I. She doesn't generally make anyone else's clothes. Like she doesn't make Puck's, because he apparently ruins every good piece of clothing she makes for him and has decided it's a waste to make him any nice clothes."

"Who needs 'em in the first place?" yawned a voice as the door swung open with a mighty bang, and Puck meandered in, arms stretched way over his head as he flashed his trademark grin, emerald eyes glinting with fiendish fire as he pranced over and leaned in to kiss Nikki's cheek. "Morning, beautiful."

Nikki rolled her eyes and gave him a slight push in the chest that he used to sprawl dramatically across Demon's deserted bed.

"So, heard Lord Pointy Ears giving his usual morning rundown and decided to camp out for a few minutes before showing up," he said, hands behind his head as he grinned up at them. "He yell at anyone yet?"

"Not yet," sighed Nikki, smirking at him. "But it's only nine o'clock. There's still time."

"Always time," snickered Puck, then looked at Catherine, "Where's the cat-man?"

"In the bathroom," she said, jerking her head back towards the still shut door. "Taking a bath, of all things."

"And here I thought cats didn't like water," mused Puck, sitting up to peer thoughtfully at the door. "Then again, since he's a humanoid now, I suppose he'd want to wash out that lovely human aroma as much as possible."

"He's also complaining that it's cold, of all thing," snorted Nikki with another dramatic roll of her eyes. "He says without his fur it's cold and he's upset because Cat isn't going to let him share the bed like she normally would if he were a cuddly putty tat."

"Really now?" Puck asked, looking highly interested as he glanced over at Catherine again, a devilish smirk playing over his lips. "And how did that come up? You have a lover's spat last night?"

"No," said Catherine, glaring at him and he snickered. "He was in his own bed when I went to sleep but he apparently decided it was cold halfway through the night and crawled in with me. I woke up this morning and he had his head up against my stomach and his arm around my legs and was just a general pain in the butt."

"Not to mention he almost 'accidentally' tore her nightgown off," snickered Nikki.

Puck's emerald eyes got very wide, and he gave Catherine a stunned look.

"Don't over exaggerate," she scolded her friend. "He just had a tight grip and the more he moved around the lower the gown got."

"My, my, my," whistled Puck, smirking. "Risqué. And, just a question, did he keep his clothes on like a gentleman or did he go au natural last night?"

"Well, he wore the pants that he ended up in when Oberon switched him to human form," Catherine sighed, shrugging. "He didn't seem too big on either of the shirts, though, but he did put the black one back on when he got up this morning, so I figure that's all he'll be wearing if he's going to wear anything."

"Well, then let's hope that Oberon doesn't decide to try and putting him in something else," said Puck with a wry smirk. "Otherwise I get the feeling your cat-man is going to go free bird."

"Ugh, don't give me that image," muttered Catherine, shuddering just as the bathroom door creaked open behind her. She peered over her shoulder, and nearly shrieked as she wheeled back around and clapped her hands over her eyes. "_Demon!_"

"What now?" The Cait Sith sounded resigned, and Nikki also spared a glance at him, only to wheel away the next second as she realized he was totally and utterly naked as the day he'd been born. Or, at least as naked as he would have been if he'd been born human.

"Demon, put some clothes on!" she exclaimed, just as mortified as Catherine as she used her hands to shield her eyes while Puck fell back on the bed laughing like a loon. "And Puck, shut up!"

"You human women are so easily mortified by the most natural things," muttered Demon, completely uncaring as he stepped around them to the bed, still butt naked and dripping wet while Puck snickered and rolled out of the way as the Cait Sith tossed his black tunic and slacks onto the bed and turned to glare at Catherine and Nikki, who still had their eyes resolutely covered. "You cannot honestly tell me you have not seen a naked male of your kind."

"Actually I can," said Catherine, her voice a mixture of horrified and furious. "Now put some clothes on!"

"And I can say the same," Nikki said, equally appalled. "And, seriously, Demon, I'm taking Cat's side again. Clothes. _Now_. Puck, help the man get dressed, since he's apparently forgotten how to do it on his own."

"Really," muttered Demon with a small glare of exasperation as he snatched his clothes back up from the bed and began yanking them on while Puck stood off to the side, still laughing hysterically, though he seemed to be at least trying to stifle it somewhat. "You two are really unbelievable."

"Are you dressed yet?" Nikki asked tersely.

"Yes," sighed the Cait Sith as he straightened his tunic, rolling his eyes at the ceiling and reaching up to push his long silver bangs out of his face. "You may uncover your eyes now and quit acting like naïve children."

"For your information," Catherine said, peeking from between her fingers to ensure he was clothed before dropping her hands to her sides, "These naïve children just happen to like it when people where clothes like they're supposed to. And if you think I'm letting you in the bed after _that_ you've got some serious rethinking to do."

"I doubt that," snorted Demon with a bored look at her. "And I refuse to give up necessary warmth for your personal comfort. Whether you see me as a man or not, I am still a cat, and you will survive the closeness, I assure you. No human woman has yet died from spending the night with a human man in their bed."

"I don't know what planet you think you're living on," Nikki told him, staring in disbelief at him, "But haven't you ever heard of wedding night murders? They're actually really popular. Or they were. Now it's more like the one night stands that turn into murder because the guy happened to be a serial killer."

"Lay off the murder mysteries, Nikki," Puck advised her, grinning hugely as he leaned one hip lazily against the post of one of the beds, "You'll scare Cat. And, Cat, trust me on this. Demon may look like a hunk of a man, but he's still a lazy ass cat in his mind. Just share the bed and all will be right with the world."

"Not if he pulls my gown off while I'm sleeping," said Catherine indignantly.

"Pin it," Puck and Demon said in unison.

"You two are barbaric," exclaimed Catherine, staring in disbelief at them as Puck flashed Demon a grin of pure camaraderie. "I am not sharing the bed with him!"

"I don't know who 'him' is," said a tired voice as Trinity shuffled into view, wiping at her tired eyes, "But you'd better not be sharing the bed with him."

"Demon hopped beds last night and almost disrobed Cat in the process," Nikki explained as the blonde girl wandered up, barely covering up a yawn.

Trinity turned wide eyes on Catherine, then glanced at Demon, who was sighing in resignation as he gazed out the window where yet more sunlight was beginning to creep in, then back at Nikki, who grinned and shrugged.

"Alright, I missed something," Trinity said, putting her hands up. "Start at the beginning."

Nikki quickly ran through that morning's interesting turn of events, and by the end of it Demon discovered he had yet another female turned against his cause as Trinity fixed him with a stony glare.

"Demon," she said, "I get that Cat shared space with you as a cat. But you are not a cat right now. You are a very virile human man."

"Did you have to put it that way?" asked Catherine dismally, but she was ignored.

"I am still a cat in mentality," said Demon staunchly, narrowing his yellow-green eyes to mere slits at Trinity in his best attempt to be an intimidating Cait Sith, but the only thing he really managed to pull off was a rather indecently sexy glare that had Trinity dramatically fanning herself.

"Easy there, stud, you're going to give someone a hot flare if you're not careful," she told him, smirking.

Demon made a disparaging noise in the back of his throat, glaring at Trinity, and she put up her hands with a sigh of defeat as she realized she needed to take a different approach.

"Look, Demon, whether you like it or not, right now, you don't look like a cat, regardless of your mentality," she told him seriously. "Right now, you are a very real, very good looking guy, and that's kind of unsettling to a chick like Cat waking up in the morning with that kind of hot mess rolling around in her bed thinking he's a fluffy ball of fuzz. I know you don't like it, but at least have the decency to ask if she'll share the bed before going and jumping the gun and just rolling in with her."

Demon still had his eyes narrowed, a frown on his human face, but he seemed to at least be thinking about the girl's words as he looked between her and Catherine's flushed face as the other girl resolutely stared at her toes.

"Think you can do that?" Trinity asked when it seemed Demon was ignoring her.

"I will see what I can manage," he sighed after a moment, and she smiled.

"Good," she said, and turned to Cat. "Work for you? Will you at least consider his request if he starts moping?"

Catherine didn't look so certain at first, but she stood there pondering and considering just how the fact that Demon was human in the first place was kind of her fault and nodded mutely after a while.

"Good," said Trinity again, looking pleased that they'd finally settled something. "Now, since I see Cat needs to change, Puck, Demon, get."

Puck grinned as he obediently strode from the room, but Demon seemed to hesitate.

"Demon, we just settled one problem, don't make another," Catherine warned him, lifting fiery emerald eyes to his face so he looked momentarily amused and followed Puck out of the room.

"Ladies, if you require our presence, you may locate us in the dining hall," Puck said with a dramatic bow as he yanked the door shut behind him and the Cait Sith.

"Idjit," said Nikki fondly, shaking her head as she smiled at the now closed door, listening to the sounds of Puck leading Demon away, enticing the Cait Sith with mention of food.

"Indeed, but he is _your _idjit," said Trinity with a knowing smile that Catherine copied as they both turned to grin at Nikki, who gave a sheepish smile.

"Indeed," she agreed with a small sigh, then seemed to sober as she looked over at Catherine, who was thoughtlessly running a hand over the sky blue gown, her eyes full of awe as the silken material slithered through her fingertips. "Cat?"

Catherine started at the sound of her friend's voice, and turned to see Nikki looking at her with a concerned frown on her face.

"Are you okay?" Nikki asked softly, and though Catherine might have liked to think her friend was talking about what had just happened with Demon, she knew better.

They'd come to that point again…The one she had really just wanted to avoid for possibly the next century…

Sighing, letting the silk of the blue gown fall from her hand, she turned to face her friends, who were both giving her uncertain and anxious looks as she lifted her emerald eyes to gaze at them. She wondered if she should just go ahead and tell them…it would be the fair thing to do. But…she still felt sick just even beginning to think about…_him_…She really needed more time to settle herself before she brought it up.

"I'm still getting there," she told Nikki and Trinity in a soft voice. "I'm a lot better than I was but…it's still hard."

Trinity seemed to deliberate for a moment, then murmured, "Do you want to talk about it now?"

"I do," Catherine said, "I want to talk about it, but I don't think I can yet…"

Trinity and Nikki nodded in understanding, and Nikki walked over to put her arms around her friend in a hug, and Trinity, after another moment, stepped forward to do the same so the three of them were standing in a group embrace, thoughts racing endlessly. After a few moments they broke apart, and Catherine smiled reassuringly at her two sisters as they continued to frown slightly at her, clearly still worried.

"I'll be okay," she promised them quietly.

"We know," Nikki said with a small nod and a smile. "Just…don't take too long, alright? We're here if you need us."

"I know," Catherine answered, then sighed as she glanced down at the dresses again. "We should probably get going, before Puck annoys the hell out of Demon teasing him about hopping in bed with me."

"True," agreed Nikki with a wry smirk. "Which means you need to pick out a dress. I would totally go with the green one, it matches your eyes."

"I second that," Trinity said with a grin. "Plus, green is kind of a fad here. Blue is more of a Winter thing, so I'm actually kind of surprised that Oberon had a dress made in that color for you."

She eyed the sky blue sheath dress for a long moment, a frown on her face.

"You don't think he knows, do you?" she asked quietly, and when her friends gave her puzzled looks she went on in a lower murmur, "That you're a Winter faction Cait Sith?"

Catherine frowned now, feeling unease twist in her gut. "I didn't think he did," she muttered, turning a wary eye on the blue dress. "Why wouldn't he let me know he knows? That's kind of like holding a threat over my head that I don't even know he has."

"Yeah, good point," murmured Nikki, nodding. "Trust us, he would have told you by now if he hasn't already."

"So it's probably just coincidence then," sighed Trinity, looking a little relieved now.

"Probably," Catherine agreed, though she still felt uneasy as he eyed the rippling blue silk on her bed. "Ah, well. Whatever the reason, we're going with green. Oh, and we heard him say you're going to be in the court today?"

"Yeah," said Trinity with a grimace of disgust. "Yay for me. Since my dad passed on a while back, Oberon's basically using me as his stand-in from now on until I don't know when. It's boring as hell in the Court, too, all they do is sit there and either talk about politics, what Mab might be planning next, and whether or not the latest gossip could possibly be true. It's gets super annoying."

"I can imagine," said Catherine sympathetically. "Well, he also said you'd be out by noon, so you can walk around with us. Nikki is going to show me around. I think."

She gave her dark haired friend a quizzical look and Nikki gave her the thumbs-up.

"You bet," she said, grinning, her brown eyes sparkling with excitement. "Should be fun. Just don't eat anything anyone offers you unless I okay it first, and if you see any satyrs following us for longer than five minutes, definitely tell me."

"Sure thing," said Catherine, trying not to dwell on satyrs too long. She'd never met any outside of the girls who acted as Oberon's servants, and she was keen to keep it that way. She'd already heard enough horror stories of satyrs raping unsuspecting human girls to prefer to steer clear of them.

"So, I'm going to get dressed," Trinity announced, looking gloomy at the very thought of it, and Catherine suspected it was because she was going to have to be super dressed up to be in Court. "And I'll meet up with you guys later today, since I'm betting you're going to go get Puck and Demon and get the grand tour of the place. Don't show off too much or we won't have anything to do at the end of the day, and we're stuck here for two weeks until I'm off house arrest."

"Yeeeeah, doesn't that kind of suck?" muttered Nikki, looking surly as she and Trinity turned away to allow Catherine to slip out of her human clothes and into the dazzling emerald dress. "Well, if we're lucky, the two weeks will fly by, Elysium will be easy enough to get through without anyone losing a head or an eyeball, Mab won't freeze anyone while she's here for the aforementioned party, and then we can be on our way."

"Uh-oh," said Catherine from behind them, and they turned immediately, wondering if something was wrong with the dress.

But it wasn't the dress that had Catherine worried, since it fit like a glove and hung to the floor just like Nikki's in rippling waves of emerald silk. It was the mention of Mab and Elysium in the same sentence that had her turning white as chalk as she stared in horror at her two friends.

"What's up?" Trinity asked, looking concerned again while Nikki reached out a hand for Catherine's.

"Mab," said Catherine in a hoarse voice, placing her trembling hand in Nikki's and lifting the other to her throat, feeling choked. "She's coming here for Elysium."

She didn't need to say anything else, and she could see the connection being made in her friends' minds as their eyes also grew wide, and they went slightly paler than before as well.

"Shit," whispered Nikki, looking stricken. "I should have thought about that before! And so should Oberon! You told him last night that Mab was holding you prisoner before!"

"He might have forgotten," suggested Catherine, though somehow she didn't quite believe that, and neither did Nikki or Trinity.

"Like hell he forgot," said Trinity, looking caught in a mixture of angry and fearful. "What's he playing at? If he seriously expects you to go to Elysium and for Mab _not _to say anything he's senile! I'll talk with about it today in the Court. Hopefully Titania will be late getting there as usual and I'll actually have the chance to say something before she comes to drag the spotlight onto herself like she always does."

"I'd hurry then," Nikki told her fervently. "You should have already been there ten minutes ago."

"Right," said Trinity, and hurried out of the room. "I'll see you guys later!"

"It's just one thing after another," groaned Catherine as her friend vanished from sight, leaving her and Nikki alone, and she sank onto the bed, hands over her face. "If Oberon remembers what I told him, why does he think Mab will just ignore me whenever she shows up here? And even if she miraculously manages to pretend like I'm just a part of the wall, I seriously doubt Rowan will. He was _pissed _when I got away."

"I believe it," said Nikki, her voice a little strained as she sat down beside her friend, gently moving the blue dress out of the way, and putting a consoling hand on Catherine's back. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out when Tri gets back from talking to Oberon later today. And even if he decides not to do anything about, I know Demon won't let Mab do anything to you. Or Rowan. Besides, Elysium is a peaceful time between the courts. I don't think Mab is going to risk ruining that peace by demanding you come back as a prisoner."

"I don't know," said Catherine uncertainly, peering through her fingers at her friend with a very fearful expression, "She seemed pretty vengeful to me, never minding what rules might be in place for this party coming up."

"You'll be fine," Nikki reassured her, her voice firm and her gaze set with a determination Catherine had spent the past eight years of her life getting to know. This was Nikki's game face. The face that told her that absolutely nothing was going to make Nikki change her mind on the matter, and she couldn't help smiling as Nikki nodded fiercely as she went on, "If she even thinks about saying anything about it, I'll grow a tree up right underneath her and see how she likes being suspended 30 feet in the air in front of the rest of the court."

"That'll go over well," said Catherine sarcastically, but she was smirking at the idea of the crisp, regal Ice Queen shrieking for help from thirty feet off the ground.

"It'll be great," Nikki said with a devious grin. "I'll get Puck to help me. You'll see, it'll be the greatest prank in the history of pranks."

"Uh-huh," giggled Catherine, though she still felt uneasy at the thought of facing Mab and Rowan in the next two weeks…though now that she gave it more serious thought, she realized they wouldn't be the only ones she'd have to face… But she was trying very hard not to imagine that moment two weeks from now. He might not even be there…

"Right then," said Nikki, pushing herself to her feet and turning to Catherine, her burgundy dress swirling around her ankles like rippling water, "Let's go get breakfast, before Puck demolishes everything within sight. I swear, the guy can eat, and if we leave him there long enough he'll eat all the good food."

"Then we'd best get going," said Catherine with a smile, and, hand-in-hand, she and Nikki departed from the room to make their way down several long corridors until they reached a grand sitting room with long wooden tables. A few faeries sat inside, though Catherine noticed that most of them did not seem to be the nobility she had been dreading seeing, and instead she caught sight of the satyr girls that had been with Oberon that morning, and a couple from the night before. A few goblins sat at the end of a far off table, squabbling over what looked like a meat pie, and on the other end of the room, with a table to themselves, sat Demon and Puck, who were—much to Catherine's and Nikki's surprise—carrying on what seemed to be a rather civilized and good natured conversation. Demon said something that caused Puck to burst into laughter, and Demon's lips curved into a small smirk as he inserted a spoonful of plain milk into his mouth.

"Well, you guys seem to be getting along fine now that Demon isn't a cat," Nikki said in amazement as she and Cat drew up to the table, Catherine still looking around her in awe at everything around her, from the floral center pieces on the table to the vines that ran up and down the walls, covered in flowering blooms of every color imaginable. "What happened? You guys suddenly decide that since you're on a similar page that you're going to play nice with each other?"

"Nah, not really," snickered Puck, sitting with his legs propped up on the table, dangling a bunch of grapes from one hand and plucking one off to pop it into his open mouth. "Just that Demon's apparently got this great sense of humor that I didn't even know he had."

"Ah, humor," sighed Nikki, shaking her head and grinning, "The thing that ties all men to each other. That and food. Though I notice you seem to be hogging all the grapes."

She gave Puck a critical look as he smirked, clutching the bowl of grapes firmly to his chest as though to protect it.

"I'll share," he promised when she arched an eyebrow. "Just making sure the piskies didn't get to it first, little bastards. They'll take anything!"

"So will the goblins, but I don't see you protecting the meat pies," observed Nikki as she plunked into the seat beside Puck while Catherine took a spot beside Demon, who nudged a plate of grapes, strawberries and a loaf of bread towards her, apparently having already picked out her meal.

"Well, that's awfully considerate of you. What next?" she asked, glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow, "Do I get a massage, too, now that you have hands?"

"Just shut up and eat," he sighed, still spooning milk into his mouth from his bowl.

"Alright," she said, plucking a green grape from the bunch and popping it into her mouth.

"By the way," said Nikki, seeming to remember something as she managed to nab a rather generous amount of grapes from the bowl in Puck's arms, "We remembered something not so great before we came to find you guys. About Elysium."

"Mab and Rowan will be there," said Demon without looking up from his bowl.

Nikki gave him a steely glare. "Well, thanks for stealing my thunder, Demon. I was just about to say that."

"I know you were," said the Cait Sith dryly. "Goodfellow had been considering a moment ago when he was listing all the nobles that will be attending from the Unseelie Court. We were considering ways to keep Catherine out of sight."

"There won't really be a need, will there?" asked Nikki with a frown. "I mean, why would Mab risk a quarrel with Oberon for Catherine? Even if Oberon doesn't want to protect her, Trinity would sooner fight it out with Mab than back down, and Oberon cares about Tri."

"Which is exactly what I was telling him," said Puck with a snort and a roll of his eyes. "But he doesn't seem to be taking me seriously."

"Mab isn't my concern," said Demon in a low voice, finally giving up on his spoon and lifting the bowl to his lips to knock back the milk. "Rowan is. Mab may not be foolish enough to risk a confrontation with the Seelie Court in their own territory—though if we were talking about Tir Na Nog it would be an entirely different issue—but Rowan would probably throw a temper tantrum of sorts or at least be increasingly nasty about the whole thing until Mab either did confront Oberon or Titania got fed up with it."

"Because Titania hates me," sighed Catherine, nudging at the loaf of bread on her plate, suddenly not very hungry as she remembered the Summer Queen's furious glare fixed on her from the night before.

"That would be a generous understatement," said Puck, frowning sympathetically at her from across the table. "But don't feel like it's just you. She shares equal enmity for me and I've been here for centuries before she even caught Oberon's eye."

"Regardless," said Demon in a low voice, watching Catherine from under his long dark lashes, his expression rather subdued, "We need to figure out whether there is a significant threat in letting you attend Elysium in the open."

"Trinity was going to bring it up with Oberon today in Court issues," Nikki recalled then. "Before Titania got there, so she can't ruin any chance Trinity might have of convincing him that Cat needs to be either hidden or protected from Mab and/or Rowan."

"We have to remember that Ash and Meghan will be there, too," Catherine murmured, glancing at Nikki, "So that kind of lessens the chance of Mab wanting to start something, since I'm friends of you and Puck and Puck is friends of Meghan and Ash."

"Thank God for friends by association," said Puck with a huge grin. "Though, we'll still want to keep it kind of hush-hush that we met up with ice-boy and Meghan earlier in the past week if you know what I mean."

Nikki and Catherine nodded and Demon poured himself more milk.

"Demon," sighed Catherine when she saw what he was doing. "Much as I adore milk, too, that can't be all you eat today. Here."

She shoved her plate at him, where the loaf of bread had been torn in half and a couple of strawberries and a small bunch of grapes remained. Demon eyed the scant meal with disinterest, and Catherine sighed in exasperation.

"At least eat a meat pie or something," she said, giving him a hard look. "I don't know when the last time you spent as a human was, but you're not going to hold up very well in that body if you just drink milk all morning."

"You seemed perfectly fine doing it during your college days," Demon observed, even as he reached for the smallest meat pie in front of him and then broke it in half.

"That's different," Catherine told him with a glare. "I'm used to scant meals. It's part of the college experience."

"Yeck, college," muttered Puck, shuddering. "I don't even know why you humans thought that horrible thing up. It's like prison, just with bigger books."

"You would look at it that way," said Nikki with a sigh of exasperation. "That's probably how you thought of high school, too."

"Nah," said Puck, shaking his head. "High school is more like perpetual interrogation in a police department. You sit there in a dimly lit room for hours, being asked questions you don't really know the answers to, and occasionally someone slams a hand down on your desk and demands that you give them the answer they're looking for."

"The comparisons he makes are astounding sometimes," Catherine noted with a small grin, then glanced at Demon to see the Cait Sith was back to his milk with a good sized half of the meat pie totally abandoned. "Demon, so help me, I will shove that meat pie down your throat."

The Cait Sith heaved a morose sigh, lifting the remaining morsel of pastry to his mouth and taking a deliberate bite out of it while giving Catherine a rather annoyed look that she pretended not to see.

"Alright, getting on with the rest of the day," said Puck, finally tossing the now empty grape bowl back onto the table with a loud clatter that had heads turning, "Where should we start?"

"The tour," Nikki said. "Cat needs to know her way around without getting trapped by a bunch of piskies or satyrs."

"Yeah, we'd like to avoid that, I suppose," said Puck with a little moue of distaste at the thought of satyrs. "Alright, we'll start from here and work our way to the east end of the palace, then down to the east, back up from the west and come full circle here again."

"Even though this is the southern half of the castle?" asked Nikki with a raised eyebrow.

"Details," said Puck indifferently, waving an airy hand. "We're just turning the compass around to suite our needs. It'll go right back to being where it was when we finished. It's never killed anyone to set the compass wrong, has it?"

"It might have killed Columbus," pointed out Nikki, smirking as they all rose from the table and began to make their way out of the dining hall.

"Hell, Columbus's screwed up sense of direction is the only thing that saved him," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "I mean, seriously, what guy sails to North America and thinks he's landed in India? I ask you!"

Chuckling amongst themselves, the four left the hall and started down a corridor, following Puck's lead. Nikki strolled easily beside the faery, just as set in her surroundings as he was; the result of having lived for a good couple days in Arcadia when she had first come here. Catherine and Demon hung back, merely following, though a couple times Catherine noticed that Demon would pause at the entrance to another corridor and recommend they take that way instead, much to Puck's chagrin as the Cait Sith informed him they would end up doubling back if they continued on their current route. After several more times of this, Catherine had a lurking suspicion in the back of her mind, and finally voiced it when Demon corrected Puck for the eighth time on which hallway to take.

'Why do I get the feeling you've been here before?" she asked in a low voice as Puck marched rigidly ahead of them, grumbling to Nikki, who was giggling.

"Because I have been," said Demon simply. "Though only for a day. That aside, cats have an innate sense of direction. A homing mechanism, if you will. We can always find our way."

"Then why am I always getting lost wherever I go?" Catherine asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Because you do not have the proper directions the first time," he told her, glancing down at her with a secretly amused expression. "But do not tell me you have always gotten lost, Catherine. I have seen you before on your own. Once you have been somewhere once, there is an eighty percent chance that you can make it there again without any outside help if you were paying close enough attention the first time. You have a cat's sense of direction; you just do not quite have it perfected yet. That will be something we will have to work on during our time here."

Catherine didn't ask him anymore on the subject and settled for watching Puck as the faery stopped several times to point out key parts of the castle, which Catherine made sure to pay close attention to as they passed. They peered into most of the rooms that they passed, which generally ended up being studies or public lavatories that Puck warned her would be ill advised to use if she wanted to keep her virginity in one piece, either physically or eye-wise, but there was one room they passed that Puck didn't even slow at, and Catherine's curiosity got the better of her.

"What room was that?" she asked in a low voice, as Puck had made silencing gestures as they passed the room.

"Titania's and Oberon's room," he murmured back with a small grimace. "And her ladyship is still sleeping, and you really don't want to go waking her up before she's ready for it. Some of the servants have been unfortunate enough to learn that the hard way. If Titania isn't up on her own yet, the only one who needs to go waking her is Oberon, and sometimes even _he _gets the sharp end of the stick given the improper conditions."

"It's a wonder they're still married," muttered Catherine, glancing over her shoulder, though she didn't have a hope of seeing the door to the Queen's room as they were already two hallways past it and still moving.

"You're not kidding," snorted Puck, sounding weary. "I got the whole thing they had for each other during that scene in a Midsummer Night's Dream, but after that it kind of seemed like a bad one night stand they just decided to drag out. I dunno…Personally, I think Lord Pointy Ears would have been much happier staying single for a good long time instead of getting hitched because it seemed like a good political bid. Mab's been single for centuries—though it's no surprise why—and she's done just grand on her own."

"I find it funny how Mab is perpetually single and has three kids and Oberon and Titania have been together for decades and don't have a single heir to their name," said Nikki thoughtfully, and Puck gave a chortle of agreement.

"She can have kids, can't she?" Catherine asked with a frown. "Titania, I mean."

"She sure can," said Puck. "Trust me, I got curious about that myself, because I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for her or not after nearly fifty years without a kid by Oberon, but the healer told me she's perfectly ripe for childbearing, so it's really just her spitefulness that keeps them from having any kiddies. Meghan is currently Oberon's only direct descendant, but she's Queen to the Iron Kingdom, so she can't really take over the throne if he ever decides to pass it along. Not that I think Titania would let him, even if they did end up having another kid that was both of their blood."

"So she's just bitter in bed," Nikki concluded to which Puck burst out laughing.

"That's one way of putting it, yeah," he snickered, lowering his voice as a couple of nearby nymphs gave them all curious stares as they passed. "I honestly don't think she and Oberon have gotten hot and heavy with each other in nearly two centuries, either because she's too bitter or he's just that uninterested."

"I doubt he's uninterested," Nikki said, shaking her head, "At least not with other women. He's probably just not too keen on being with Titania. I think they would have been better off separate. It's obvious they're not happy together."

"I love the direction this conversation has taken," sighed Demon wearily. "You two do realize if anyone overhears you and takes all of this back to Oberon or Titania you're as good as dead?"

"Pah," said Puck, evidently unbothered by the idea of his Lord or Lady getting wind of his less than gracious words. "If Oberon is really surprised if that _does _get back to him, it'll be more disappointing to me as a result. He's known for centuries! He should know well enough!"

"And yet you still tremble at his feet like a little chicken," Nikki said. Puck turned to give her a look, then gave a loud rooster call that was so realistic that Nikki and Catherine dissolved into a fit of giggles as Puck winked, clearly satisfied with his work while Demon merely rolled his eyes with a sigh of exasperation.

They passed another few hours just traipsing around the seemingly endless maze of corridors, passing many doors, and occasionally a few Summer fey running back and forth to ensure that their chores were taken care of for the day. Puck continued to point out important landmarks to Catherine and Demon, ensuring that if they ever got lost they could turn themselves in the right direction from wherever they were, though Demon kept reminding Puck that was totally unnecessary as far as he himself was concerned. As he stated very firmly, "I never get lost."


	17. Chapter 17

**So, you'll have to excuse me for the semi-late update. I was on Spring Break and got back to find the internet in my building was shut off from morning until ten minutes ago. :P But, for those of you who are still keeping tabs on this story, I update every Saturday as early as possible. :) Thank you for your continued support! If I didn't get the reviews and PM's I did, I'd probably have given up by now, so thanks!**

Three hours later, still making their way through the halls, Puck now walking backwards and gesturing towards the occasional landmark and commenting very much like a guide in a museum, Catherine paused as the sound of rushing footsteps alerted her to the fact that someone was coming after them, and, turning to look over her shoulder, it was to see Trinity racing towards them, her blond hair falling out of the intricate curls piled on her head, hiking up the hem of her very elaborate silver dress and carrying a pair of very high heeled shoes in her hand, looking tired but excited.

"Good news!" she sang as she came skidding to a halt, nearly slamming into Catherine. "I come bringing possibly the best news aside from if Oberon had told me I wasn't under house arrest anymore!"

"Good news, is it?" said Puck, looking amused as the sight of the girl out of breath and looking like she might have just run a mile in her corseted dress and high heels. "Let's hear it, then. I want to see what's got you so hiked up even though you're still stuck in that poor excuse for a circus tent."

Trinity made a face at him, then turned, beaming, to Catherine and Nikki.

"I told Oberon about what could happen if Mab and Rowan showed up here and wanted Cat back," she said, her words falling out in a rush, "And he just looked at me for a minute, and asked if I really thought Mab was going to willingly go against him and possibly his whole battalion of knights for the sake of one girl. I asked if that meant he was going to guard Cat if Mab demanded he hand her over and he said he would personally escort Catherine if it would get me to calm down. So I told him it would, and he's promised to do it!"

She was still beaming, and Catherine looked like she might just faint.

"I love you to death for saving my neck from Mab, but really?" she demanded, looking stricken. "Oberon's escorting me to Elysium?! And what does Titania think about this?"

"Oh, she's pissed, of course," said Trinity as though it shouldn't be news, and rolled her eyes. "But Oberon told her to keep out of it, since it wasn't her business, and if Mab suddenly showed up before Elysium with some kind of stupid claim on Catherine he'd put the blame on Titania for ratting him out. And—wouldn't you know it?—she stormed out in a rage and didn't come back for the whole rest of the meeting. I think it was the quietest and most civilized time we've ever had since I've been in the court."

"Well, I know you're probably going to be scared out of your wits," Puck said, stepping forward to drop a hand on Catherine's shoulder, giving her a small smile when she looked up at him with wide, terrified emerald eyes, "But the good news is that Lord Pointy Ears is making a personal effort to keep you out of an icy prison. You'll have to thank him for that later in all seriousness. He doesn't do that for just anyone. You're lucky Trinity has such excellent connections in the Court."

"And that Titania didn't get a word in edgewise about it," added Trinity with a wink, "Though, there is a bit of a catch for all of this, and I figured there would be."

"Please tell me I get to keep my firstborn child," said Catherine, trying to make a jab at humor but not quite making the cut as her voice trembled.

"Yes, you do," said Trinity with a sympathetic smile. "He's not asking anything from you, but from me. He says he'll escort you personally, but I have to make it up by dancing at least _once _with his royal highness, Prince Rowan."

The way she said Rowan's name made it sound like she'd just swallowed an entire vat of acid, and Nikki and Catherine both winced—and Catherine also shivered—to hear the Prince's name.

"Oh, well, that's just a grand way to repay Lord Pointy Ears," said Puck, sounding disgusted as he rolled his emerald eyes towards the ceiling. "Sure, let the daughter of my favorite general go waltzing around with the sadistic son of my worst enemy and hope he doesn't stick a knife in her back. Yeah, there's a plan. And what if Mab doesn't let you dance with Rowan for some godforsaken reason?"

"I won't complain," said Trinity with a snort. "That'll be Oberon's business if he wants to confront her about not letting me set two feet within range of her precious baby boy. I really don't give a rat's ass. I have much better men to dance with than that rat bastard."

"Like Tertius?" Nikki said with a teasing smile to which Trinity flushed scarlet.

"Yeah, like him, but don't go yelling it to the world at large, okay?" she said, giving her friend a subtle push. "It's supposed to be a secret."

"Well, if it's supposed to be a secret between us, that just kind of sucks," said Puck, flashing her a grin, "Because we already knew. However, we will make absolutely sure that Lord Pointy Ears remains none the wiser to your forbidden love."

"You are just an idjit, you know that?" Nikki asked with a resigned sigh, glaring at the red headed faery, who winked at her and dropped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to kiss her cheek.

"So, let's get on with the rest of the tour," he said, dragging Nikki along as he began to walk down the hall, only to stop as Trinity said,

"I actually have a better idea."

"Better than going around for another god knows how many hours giving a tour of the palace?" said Puck in mock disbelief. "Do tell."

"Well, you're actually not invited," Trinity told him with a wry smirk. "It's strictly girl time. I have much to discuss with my lovely friends and I'm sure you and Demon can spend time bonding as men generally do when they have nothing else to entertain them."

"Please, be merciful," said Demon in a pained voice, "If I have to spend any more time with this directionally incompetent faery I might just choke myself to death…"

"Do I really make you have such suicidal tendencies?" asked Puck, looking slightly interested in the idea as he glanced over at Demon, who just glared at him.

"Please," said Demon, turning appealing eyes on Catherine, "I will lay silently on the other bed and not speak a word if you just take me with you."

Catherine eyed him for a long moment, noting just how much the Cait Sith seemed to be trying to use his kitten eyes on her, except being human kind of made it harder. Still, somehow he made it work for him, and she sighed in defeat as she finally gave in.

"Fine," she said, shaking her head, and he sighed in audible relief, "But not a word, or you and Puck can go play somewhere else."

"You have my word," he said solemnly while Nikki and Trinity exchanged slightly amused looks behind Catherine's back.

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" demanded Puck, hands on his hips, looking thoroughly put out at the idea of being left for dead.

"Can you behave yourself and not make a nuisance of yourself?" inquired Nikki, feeling a twinge of guilt as he pouted at her, clearly genuinely hurt.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "If I try hard enough, and I will if it means I can stay with youuuuu."

He nuzzled her head, to which she grumbled and elbowed his ribcage but agreed.

"Alright, you can come," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just keep your mouth shut and don't comment unless you're asked to."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, saluting her. "Let us make haste to the bedrooms and make do with this merry discussion of womanly affairs that I will keep my nose completely out of unless otherwise informed to do so."

"This has bad idea written all over it," muttered Trinity, but wasn't about to tell the boys they couldn't come when both of them were clearly not in the least bit interested in being left alone, and she couldn't really blame them either. "Come on, then. Let's go to your room, Cat. It's the biggest, since you're sharing it with Demon."

"Your room isn't bigger?" asked Catherine, surprised. "I thought since you were in the court…"

"Yeah, I wish," sighed Trinity, rolling her eyes. "It's big as rooms go, but only for one person. You have two beds and much more space in your room, so we'll hang out there for now."

"Good deal," said Nikki, shrugging out of Puck's hold only to tangle her fingers with his a split second later when he looked like he might complain, and together they moved back down the hallways towards the bedrooms. Though, they hadn't quite reached the end of the corridor they were in when a very malicious aura seeped in around them, and Demon gave a very cat-like growl from the back of his throat as his eyes flickered back over his shoulder and Trinity wheeled around, blue eyes widening.

"Titania," hissed Puck under his breath, hand tightening around Nikki's as he, too, glanced back. Nikki felt a shiver creep down her spine as the quiet but authoritative clack of heels on stone alerted her to the approach of the Summer Queen, and Catherine felt dread pool in the pit of her stomach as she slowly turned around to meet the venomous glare of Oberon's wife as the woman strode slowly towards them—more like stalking towards them—with her cold blue eyes narrowed to slits, her nostrils flared, and her head held high as she regarded them with the utmost disdain.

"Well, what have we here?" she said in a high, clear voice that cut like the blade of a knife, a sneer evident in her voice as she glared down at them from her intimidating height. She was about as tall as Demon, but she was much more menacing than the Cait Sith as her shadow stretched over them, and her malice swirled tangibly through the air. "A bunch of half breeds and a sorry excuse for a pet wandering around unsupervised…"

She seemed to completely disregard Puck as he stood protectively in front of Nikki, who was making sure to keep her gaze on Titania, as though afraid the Queen would lash out at any given moment.

"Lady Titania," said Trinity, being the only one in either a state of mind or position to address the Queen, though the withering look the Faery Queen gave her suggested she would sooner consider a rock above the girl, "We were just returning to our rooms for a while before late lunch."

"Hmph," sniffed the Queen, glaring down menacingly at Trinity. "Such impudence…Do not think I will so easily overlook how you humiliated me in court today, half breed. I do not care if you are the daughter of Oberon's favorite lackey, however dead the fool may be. I am the Queen, and I will be respected as such."

Trinity didn't answer, though the way her eyes flashed at the mention of her father in such disrespectful tones was a very clear indication of what she thought about Titania's words.

"And you," Titania said then, voice cracking like a whip as she fixed her malevolent stare on Catherine, "You should be grateful that my husband seems to favor such sorry creatures like you. You will be sorry, though, that you disgraced the King in such a way as to have him be your escort on the night of Elysium. To think Oberon would even allow such filth to touch him at all is appalling, but I suppose that sick fascination he seems to have for you humans still lingers despite all the times I have told him I will not tolerate his continued promiscuity."

_Right_, thought Nikki bitterly, giving Titania a dirty look from behind Puck's shoulder. _You're just sore because he can actually have affairs with humans and you can't. You'd whore yourself out if he'd let you…_

Not to mention she knew full and well that Titania would never have the grace to get over the fact that Oberon had found a 'mere human' more attractive than his wife of innumerable centuries.

"Well, we'll be on our way," Trinity murmured, beginning to turn away from Titania after dropping a brief curtsy that Nikki and Catherine quickly mimicked, and Puck and Demon bowed, but they hadn't even turned away from Titania when the Queen snapped.

"Did I dismiss you?"

"Oh, great," muttered Puck under his breath, trying to hide the look of resentment on his face as he started to turn back to Titania, but stopped when he caught sight of a long, antlered shadow crossing the floor towards them from behind the Queen, and then he was doing his best to hide his smirk of amusement. "And here comes the cavalry. Da-dada-da!"

"Titania," Oberon's voice thundered through the small corridor, making the walls tremble with the power in his tone, and Titania tensed before whirling around to face her husband with a basilisk glare.

"Husband," she said, striding up to him and flinging herself into his arms. Judging by the look of resignation on Oberon's face as he lifted his arms to loosely embrace the Faery Queen, he was overused to this kind of situation, and the inquiring look he shot Puck also suggested he knew that whatever he was about to hear wasn't quite going to be the way Titania would make it out to have happened. "These half breeds have blatantly disrespected me, not to even mention the fact they are wandering around the palace unescorted and unsupervised!"

"Robin is with them," said Oberon softly, ignoring her first statement. "He is more than capable of keeping watch over them, and Lady Trinity is with them as well."

"I do not trust Goodfellow to keep any of these whelps in line," huffed Titania, looking even more furious than before as she gripped the front of Oberon's robes. "He is conspiring with the half breed cat to ruin us!"

"Well, this is getting more and more dramatic by the second," muttered Puck, glancing back at Nikki and the others. "I haven't seen her this stirred up in a while."

The others merely rolled their eyes and looked back to where Oberon was calmly attempting to soothe Titania.

"Robin is my loyal servant and has been for centuries," he said in his low voice that rumbled with absolute authority. "He would not betray me now, and we have already held witness to the girl's testimony that she is not a spy for Mab."

"And how do you know she is telling the truth?" demanded Titania, eyes flashing blue fire at her husband. "She is a half human bitch. She could easily be lying to us as ordered by Mab."

Catherine felt a spark of indignation to hear Titania speak about her in such a way, and it was only thanks to Demon laying a cautioning hand on her shoulder that she managed to hold her tongue, though her eyes narrowed at Titania's silver and gold haired head and she felt anger bubble in her gut.

"You will cease this at once, wife," Oberon commanded, his acid green eyes narrowing at Titania, clearly annoyed now, "I trust the girl's word. I could hear the ring of truth in her words, and I will not permit you to sully her testimony after such trials because you are jealous of the choices I have made regarding her and the others."

"Jealousy?" Titania let out a harsh laugh and pushed away from Oberon, glaring furiously up at him. "You think I am jealous of that half breed bitch? Or any of them, really? That is your sad excuse for brushing me so easily aside that you believe I am jealous? You disappoint me, husband."

Catherine had to bite her tongue very hard to keep from muttering a less than gracious remark about the Queen's words, and left it to Oberon to give his wife a dark look before sighing and shaking his head.

"I am tired from today's duties, and I feel no desire to keep up this ludicrous squabble. I have made my final decision and will not hear any more of your petty or imagined slights, wife," he said, in a voice that rumbled with finality. "And if I am to hear from anyone in the palace that you have been doing harm to Lady Trinity or any of her friends then I can assure you that the repercussions will be ones you would sooner wish you had had the foresight to avoid."

"Are you threatening me, husband?" Titania asked in a deadly whisper.

"No, wife," said Oberon. "Merely telling you what is. I will hear no more of this. Leave us now. I wish to speak with Robin Goodfellow and the others alone."

Titania's glare could have withered a thousand gardens as she stared up at Oberon through hateful blue eyes, then, with a final hiss of fury she stormed around the Erkling and stalked away down the hall and out of sight. The tension that had hung in the air during the time she and Oberon had been quarreling finally dissipated, however slowly, and the Summer King heaved a great sigh as he looked towards where Puck and the others stood, quietly waiting for him to address them.

"Can I say something?" Puck said as Oberon took a step towards them.

"No," said Nikki fiercely at the same time Oberon did.

"Damn," muttered Puck, frowning.

"What did you do to put Titania in such a foul temper?" Oberon asked, glancing between them all.

"Uh, I really don't know," said Puck, shrugging. "Walking, last time I checked."

Oberon arched a silver eyebrow, and Puck flashed a cheeky grin.

"Get along, Goodfellow," sighed the Erkling, waving a hand to dismiss them, "I am tired and have no desire to handle your twisted humor at this point."

"Aw, but you _like _my twisted humor," said Puck with a bright smile, waggling his eyebrows.

"Only during the times he hasn't just gotten into an argument with his wife, now shut up and walk," Nikki muttered in his ear, beginning to drag him away from Oberon, who was contemplating Puck with a look like he might just turn him into a cockroach and step on him.

"Sire," said Puck with a grand bow towards his King. "I bid ye good day and apologize for this night that you will inevitably spend on the couch, so to speak."

"Puck, if he doesn't kill you, I will, now _march_!" snapped Nikki, actually aiming a kick at the faery's hind end as he sauntered ahead of her, causing him to squeak in alarm as she just barely missed her mark.

"Madam!" he said, looking back at her in disbelief. "Did you really just to attempt to kick me in the ass?"

"I'll do it again and make contact this time if you don't start walking," Nikki growled at him.

"Such things you say to me!" gasped Puck, feigning a look of hurt as he clutched at his heart.

"Trust me, that's not the worst thing she could say to you," Trinity snickered while she fell into step behind the two. Demon made to follow as well, but paused when he saw Catherine hesitating before Oberon, who was watching her with a very penetrating stare.

"My Lord," she began, then faltered under his intense gaze and had to swallow her fear before it could get the better of her. "I wanted to say thank you for what you are doing for me at Elysium. I really don't deserve it and I am very grateful."

She bowed her head halfway through her thanks, feeling that she could no longer hold Oberon's searing gaze, and deciding it would be a better expenditure of her focus to look at her toes as she finished speaking to the Erkling. He did not respond immediately after she had fallen silent, and she cringed inwardly to think that perhaps her thanks had been too early in coming, or that she'd managed to offend him somehow. But then he heaved a soft sigh, as light as a breeze stirring the leaves on a tree, and he murmured,

"Do not think on it, child. Lady Trinity is to thank most for what I am offering. It is through her concern for you that I have made the decision I have to personally escort you at the coming of this Elysium. I do not wish you harm, and would not permit Mab to conduct such atrocities in my Court during the time of peace. I only ask that in return for this favor you will be sure to act accordingly with the laws of the Seelie Court when Elysium arrives and keep your head and temper around Mab and her escorts. My protection can only go so far."

"Yes, your highness," Catherine murmured, bowing her head even further.

"Go now," Oberon murmured. "I must consult with my wife on her behavior, and I am sure you and your friends have things to be getting along with. I will see you all tonight at the formal dinner."

And with that the Erkling swept away, his robes billowing about him though there was no wind in the corridor, leaving Catherine and the others to stare after him for a long moment.

"Well, then," said Puck, letting out a long whistle and looking immensely relieved, "Good thing he seems to like you well enough."

"Was that a bad time?" Catherine asked, turning around, a concerned look on her face as she met Puck's gaze.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "Just that normally he gives some kind of ultimatum if you thank him for something he'd rather not be doing. If it weren't for Trinity being as hard headed as she is, I'm guessing he wouldn't have even bothered to be your escort for Elysium and all the rest of it, but, given the way things are, you're lucky. He might have decided to make a debt out of it."

He shrugged when Catherine paled slightly.

'You don't think he might still take the chance to make it one?" Nikki asked, now looking a little uneasy as her eyes stared at the place where Oberon had vanished around the corner after Titania.

"Nope," said Puck with a lame shrug. "He'd have done it already. He doesn't beat around the bush with things like favors. He's very straightforward about them. He likes to get them done and out of the way so he doesn't have to stand there remembering who owes him what for whatever thing."

"Sounds like someone else I know," muttered Demon with a small grimace.

"Oh, yeah?" Puck arched an eyebrow as the troupe began their walk down the hallways back towards their bedrooms, "And who would that be?"

"Prince Sage," said Demon after he'd glanced around to be sure no one was eavesdropping on them.

"Ah, yes," sighed Puck, rolling his vibrantly green eyes at the ceiling. "The eldest ice princeling. Should be interesting seeing him at Elysium."

"You think he'll show?" asked Trinity, looking moderately surprised to hear Puck say so.

"No doubt about it," the faery replied with a smirk. "If he didn't, Mab wouldn't even bother showing up. I thought we talked about this when I told you about the one time he didn't show and she threw a hissy fit, causing the shortest lived Elysium in the history of Elysiums."

"Ah, right," said Nikki, remembrance flickering in her gaze as she turned to look at Puck. "Because they got in a fight or something and he went and hid out at his secret lair."

"His Bat Cave," snickered Puck with a grin and a wink at Nikki, who rolled her eyes, "Where he lurks, doing batty prince things."

"You are _such _an idjit," Nikki told him, reaching out to nudge him in the side, and he retaliated by knocking his knuckles smartly over the top of her head.

They broke into a miniature squabble that had Trinity sighing in resignation, and Demon looking rather like he might like to take a swipe at both of the Summer faeries, though there was a faint glimmer of amusement in his yellow-green eyes as he watched them banter with each other. No one, however, noticed Catherine lingering towards the very back of the group, her eyes downcast, and her lower lip trembling as images played rapidly through her head, none of them welcome, and a face swam before her vision, with intense, icy green eyes and long, jet black hair cascading like so much silk around a pale, inhumanely beautiful face.

"Cat?" Trinity had noticed Catherine was trailing behind, not paying much attention the free entertainment provided by Puck and Nikki, and fell back to put a hand on her friend's shoulder so Catherine's head came up, her hazy jade eyes clearing immediately as she looked into Trinity's concerned face. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," sighed Catherine, nodding and offering a small smile. "I just have a lot on my mind…"

Which Trinity knew was Cat-speak for "I'm not really okay, but I don't want to talk about it and make you worry". Frowning at her friend, Trinity gave Catherine's shoulder a short squeeze and murmured,

"I know something's been wrong, and I hope you'll tell us eventually…I'm really worried about you."

"I know," said Catherine, looking slightly guilty as she turned her eyes back to the ground, watching her feet occasionally peek out from under the long hem of her emerald dress. "I promise, I'll tell you guys eventually…I'm still just trying to sort it out for myself right now. I can't really tell you guys what's wrong if I'm still trying to figure it out for myself, you know?"

She glanced up at Trinity with a slight smile that Trinity barely managed to return.

"Yeah," murmured Tri, nodding. "I understand. Just…don't too long getting down to it alright?"

"I won't," Catherine promised as Nikki finally managed to notice her two friends carrying on their private conversation at the back of the group.

"Hey," she said, bouncing over with brown eyes stretched wide as she looked uncertainly between her two sister-friends. "What's up?"

"Telling Cat not to hold out on us too long or we're going to torture her for information," Trinity said jokingly, grinning at Nikki.

"Well, I already told her that in a sense," Nikki said with a chortle, "So now it's just doubly reinforced, huh?"

"Oh, yes," said Catherine with a roll of her eyes and a smirk. "I'll make sure to get right on it so I can at least avoid the constant nagging that is sure to fall upon me if I don't hurry up and spill my guts to you insane little people."

"Hey, there's an idea!" said Puck, prancing up and standing behind Nikki, his chin resting on the girl's dark haired head as he grinned at Catherine. "We could always just drop a bit of spill-your-guts in whatever you're drinking. That'd clear the whole issue right up, huh?"

Now, Puck hadn't known Catherine for eight or nine odd years, so he didn't know all the warning signs of imminent danger when they were given, but Nikki and Trinity were well versed in Catherine's ways, and they saw immediately after Puck had spoken the way Catherine's eyes darkened and her expression completely shut off, even as she let a small, empty smile touch her face that would easily have fooled anyone else but them.

"Right," said Catherine with a small laugh that only unnerved Nikki and Trinity even further so the two exchanged a mutually uneasy look while Catherine and Puck were bantering back and forth. Demon, standing off to the side, also was not oblivious to the change in atmosphere, and Nikki could tell this by the way when she glanced over at the Cait Sith, he was looking at Catherine with a narrowed, speculative gaze that spoke volumes.

Glancing over at her friend again, Nikki nudged Trinity and shifted carefully over a few feet so the two of them were now standing next to Demon while Puck continued his teasing of Catherine without being any the wiser to the fact that he was potentially worsening the situation.

"Demon," Nikki murmured to the Cait Sith, who angled his head towards her without taking his eyes off of Catherine, "I know you saw how she reacted to what Puck just said. Do you know why she's acting like that?"

"No," he admitted in a low voice, his eyes narrowing even further. "She's never taken spill-your-guts. I stopped her before she could eat one while we were out in Tir Na Nog wandering around, but other than that I don't know why she would act like that to his joke."

"Maybe it's what's been bothering her," suggested Trinity in a whisper. "Maybe someone gave her some while she was locked up in Tir Na Nog and got her to confess something she didn't want to admit to."

"I asked her about that and she told me Rowan and Mab never gave her anything to eat outside of a half cup of frozen water," Demon informed the girl very quietly.

"Then it wasn't while she was in Tir Na Nog," concluded Nikki, frowning.

"At least not while she was in the Unseelie Court," Demon murmured, sounding thoughtful now. "But that wasn't the only time we were in Tir Na Nog, or at least near the border of Winter Territory."

"You mean that time you guys ended up with Sage," Trinity said, glancing up curiously at him, and Demon nodded. "But you were with her all that time. He wouldn't have been able to slip her any without you noticing."

Nikki's eyes suddenly grew very, very big, and a low gasp escaped her, almost drawing Catherine's attention away from Puck as the Summer faery rambled on uselessly about all the other herbs and things he'd been poisoned with, though no one really knew how he'd gotten on that subject in the first place.

"What, Nikki?" Trinity asked as Nikki put a hand to her mouth.

"She saw Sage another time, remember?" Nikki hissed to her, chocolate brown eyes stretched wide as she stared at Catherine. "Alone. That time when we were getting ready to storm the Unseelie Court and ran into Bane, and he said she was with Sage."

"So?" Trinity blinked in confusion.

"She's been reacting strangely at the very mention of Sage's name," murmured Demon, catching on a split second faster than the half human as his now wide eyes settled on the back of Catherine's head. "Ever since she got back to the healer's. You saw her for yourself, she kept breaking down."

"That could have been from anything, though," said Trinity, still frowning. "And what reason would Sage have for slipping her spill-your-guts in the first place? If he wanted to ask her a question all he'd have to do was make it a favor she owed him and have her answer it like he did already. Remember? She said he had his favor be that she answered a question for him."

Nikki looked torn now between keeping with her original suspicion and seeing the logic in Trinity's explanation. Everything in her mind right now—and also from what Demon had just said—made her earnestly want to believe that perhaps something had happened between Catherine and Sage that the girl just wasn't telling them yet, and that—for whatever reason—it incorporated spill-your-guts. But Trinity also had a very good point. Sage wouldn't really have a need to use the fungi. He could just ask Catherine whatever he wanted, and she would probably have answered him. After all, he'd saved her life twice in the past few weeks from the sound of it, and she owed him a good amount of compensation for his time. Besides that, he was the Prince of Winter. Nikki seriously doubted Catherine would be brazen enough to make a stand against the Prince—knowing what his mother and brother were like, and the things he could have done to her—if she refused to answer him. So…what did that leave her with?

"I don't know," she whispered at last, feeling more hopeless than she had before, chewing on her lower lip as she stared at the back of Catherine's copper haired head as the girl continued to listen to Puck list an appalling amount of times he had been poisoned and drugged for innumerable reasons. "I just want to know what's going on with her…I'm worried."

"Me, too," murmured Trinity with a small nod as Puck finally finished his list with a grand "And it's a damn good thing I came to, because those nymphs were getting awfully frisky".

"You seem to have a knack for getting yourself in trouble, Puck," laughed Catherine, though to Nikki and Trinity's ears the sound was still strained and unnatural, "Especially with nymphs."

"What can I say, they can't keep their hands off of me, the little flirts," sniffed Puck, looking half annoyed, half cocky as he grinned, "I'm just too gorgeous for my own good."

"Uh-huh," said Catherine dryly.

"He's just a stud," said Nikki with a roll of her eyes, marching up to sling an arm around Catherine's shoulders and grinning at Puck, trying not to give away the fact that she was more uneasy than she'd been all day considering just what could be the issue with Cat.

"Not quite as much a stud as he likes to make himself out to be," Trinity said, also sidling up and giving Puck a deliberate smirk, "But a stud, nonetheless. I think Demon has more going for him, though."

"That's because you've never seen him as a human," said Puck with a slight snort of exasperation. "And you know me well enough that my usual charm as been rendered completely useless against you. Not to mention you can't quite appreciate the full effects of my awesomeness when you've got your heart set on someone else."

He winked slyly at her, to which she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Alright, well, let's get back to the bedrooms for a chat, before someone else comes along and tries to frame us for something else we didn't do," she suggested, turning to lead the way down the hall. "I for one would not like to see Queen Titania again until absolutely necessary, and that means not until dinner."

"That reminds me," said Nikki, turning a curious eye on her friend, "What did Oberon mean by 'formal dinner'? Is there a party going on or something that we need to know about?"

"No, he just calls it that when he wants us to eat with him instead of in the common dining area," said Trinity with a roll of her eyes. "He usually doesn't care one way or the other, but I'm thinking he wants to formally introduce Catherine as a guest of the court so no one tries to do anything mean or rude while she's here. Remember how he did it for you when you got here?"

"Ah, right," said Nikki, nodding in understanding and flashing a grin at Catherine, though she felt her heart sink to see her friend staring at the ground. "Well, this should be fun, then. Oberon doesn't normally host feasts just for the sake of it. We're lucky Tri is in his good books, huh?"

"Yeah," said Catherine, lifting her emerald gaze and offering a small smile that didn't quite sit right with Nikki. "I just hope what we're wearing will be good enough in front of the court."

"Oberon will probably have something ready for you guys when you get back to your rooms," Trinity reassured her, glancing over her shoulder. "The dresses you've got are good for everyday casual wear, but the nobles always get super dressed up even for dinner."

"I noticed," said Catherine with a pointed look at the enormous ball gown that Trinity was adorning.

"Yeah, and this isn't the worst of it," said Trinity with a small grimace as she plucked at the lace on the cuff of her sleeve. "You should have seen the dress he made me wear on my first day in court. I swear I looked like the grand tent for the Cirque de Soleil."

"I remember that dress," Nikki recalled with a similar expression of distaste. "That was the gaudiest dress I've ever seen, including some of the ones Titania has worn before, and she's got some super nice dresses in her wardrobe, though I've never seen her wear the same thing twice, unlike Oberon. I've seen him wear some of the same outfits three or four times before either Titania or Lady Weaver decide he needs a switch. I think if he had his way he'd just wear the same thing everyday just to save himself the hassle of having to continually change."

"He would," agreed Puck with a smirk. "You notice guys don't generally give a rat's ass what we're wearing? It's kind of a habit for us. If it's clean and doesn't smell like crap, we'll wear it as many times as we want until it either _does _reek or someone forcibly makes us wear something else."

"Like how I had to convince you that wearing the same ratty hoodie for almost a month straight was probably not the best idea?" Nikki asked, cocking an eyebrow, momentarily distracted from Catherine, who took the opportunity to look back down at her feet, lost in thought.

Catherine knew Puck hadn't meant what he'd said earlier about putting spill-your-guts in her food and drink, but she hadn't ever expected someone to ever suggest it, even jokingly, and she especially hadn't been mentally or emotionally prepared for the flood of anguish that settled into her chest, closing around her heart like an iron fist, as he'd said it. It had brought to mind the crystal clear image of Sage's face just inches from hers, and the churning in the pit of her stomach that she remembered during the moments in the Prince's presence when she had desperately attempted to resist the effects of the fungi. Just hearing Puck say that he'd put it in her drink—even if he would never in a thousand years seriously consider doing it—made her feel sick and weak all over, and she could still feel that painful clenching around her heart that she didn't think would abate anytime soon.

She had felt even worse when Trinity had approached her and asked if she was alright, knowing her friend was probing for answers that she could probably answer by this point, but really didn't particularly want to. She'd been telling the truth when she'd said she wasn't ready yet. Because how could she expect to give Nikki and Trinity a straight answer as to what was so seriously troubling her when she couldn't even stomach the thought of Sage or say his name aloud without stammering over it like some horrid curse word? It was the worst position she could have been in, and though she wanted with all her heart to have the comfort and reassurance of her friends on the issue, she just couldn't face what had gone on that day, even if to anyone else in the world—even to Nikki and Trinity—it would have seemed like just a kiss. It wasn't like Sage had ravaged her against her will or something similarly atrocious. He'd just kissed her. But she could never see it that way, not even if she lived to be a hundred.

She had tried, of course, in the time that she had been on her way here from Spindle's, but every time she tried to thoroughly convince herself that she would eventually get over the Prince's kiss, she felt as though her stomach was going to right up her throat, and that her heart might just rupture in her chest. Not to mention the hauntingly sweet, cool taste that always managed to flood her mouth at the very remembrance of his lips on hers, and his tongue… She cut herself off there, shivering violently as goose bumps ran up her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Color flushed into her cheeks, along with a searing heat, and she felt her stomach roil in protest as she took a deliberately deep breath and blew it out in a trembling sigh.

"Cat," Nikki said gently, her arm tightening around her shoulders. "You okay?"

How many times was she going to hear that be asked today, she wondered? Probably until she finally came clean, but, there in again laid the problem of not quite being ready to face up to it…

"Yeah," she murmured, glancing up at her friend and offering a reassuring smile that didn't seem to entirely convince Nikki. "I'm fine. Just thinking…"

Nikki nodded mutely, but was still frowning as Catherine gently slid out of her friend's grip to follow behind Puck and Trinity as the two Summer fey led the way back down what felt like endless amounts of hallway until they finally came around a corner that looked familiar to her, and in the next few minutes after that they were standing outside of her bedroom door, and Puck was knocking very rapidly on the wood frame.

"You expect someone to be in there?" asked Trinity, giving him a look.

"In this place, you never know," he said wisely, ear to the door as he waited for a sound to come through, and when none did he grinned and pushed it open. "All clear!"

"Idjit," said Nikki as she passed him. Trinity swept by next, followed by Catherine and Demon, and Puck entered last, slamming the door behind him with such force that all three girls jumped and the Cait Sith flinched.

"That was unnecessary," Nikki chastised Puck as the faery pranced by to throw himself on Demon's designated bed, hands behind his head as he settled down on the pillows with a huge grin on his face.

"I'm sorry, mommy," he said in an impish voice, giving her a wide eyed look of innocence. "I won't do it again, I promise. Don't spank me."

"Yeah, you wish I would," she snorted, rolling her brown eyes as she settled down on the edge of Catherine's bed, at first not noticing the long, elegant dress laid out on the mattress behind her until Trinity made a noise of shock and exasperation and she looked around to see the girl staring at it.

"Whoa," said Nikki, now also realizing the dress was there, her eyes widening as she looked at it. "That is a dress."

"What did I say?" sighed Trinity, hands on her hips, rolling her eyes at the combination of periwinkle silk and white lace practically spilling off of Catherine's bed while Catherine merely gaped at it, looking more horrified than awed. "I told you he'd make a big deal out of the dinner, as he always does."

"I can't wear that," Catherine said, all other thoughts forgotten as she gaped in total disbelief down at the nightmarish poof that was her dress. It looked way too big to be safe, like a circus tent—as Trinity had described her own dress earlier—all lace and frills and flowing sleeves and a train that looked like it could easily trip someone if they stepped on it as they walked behind her. "Just…just no…"

"You're going to have to, Cat," Nikki said, though she looked sympathetic as she glanced up at her friend. "He won't let you in wearing anything less than that."

"Then I'll eat in the common dining hall, but I'm either going to kill myself or someone else wearing that thing," said Catherine, eyeing the dress with an expression like she half expected it to leap up and attack her.

"Cat, just wear it," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes. "It'll probably look better on you than you're imagining it will."

"I doubt that," said Catherine in a disgruntled mutter.

"How about I go check out my room and see if he left something for me, too?" suggested Nikki, already knowing full and well that Oberon would definitely have made Lady Weaver prepare something for her. "And I'll bring it back and we can compare gaudiness? Sound like a plan? And Tri can bring hers, since I doubt she's going to wear the same dress from court to dinner."

"Don't remind me," said Trinity with an almost pained groan, plucking again at her dress. "He _always _makes me change. I swear, he's more like my father than I think my own father ever would have been. And that's saying something."

"I'll be right back," Nikki said, hopping to her feet and marching for the door. "Now that I've said it, I'm actually kind of scared to see what my dress looks like. Last time he had one made I nearly fainted because I thought I was going to look like a walking rosebush in it. Thank God Lady Weaver knows how to work magic in clothing."

"I'll take your word for it," sighed Catherine, still looking uneasily down at the dress, though she had at least approached it now and was running a tentative finger along the hem of it. It was a very beautiful color and style, she had to admit, but it just looked like…so much…_too_ much… How could she not drown in all of that dress?

"I knew it!" Nikki's voice practically shrieked from down the hall, causing everyone in the room to jump, the exception being Demon, who merely looked around in boredom as Nikki stormed back in, dragging what looked like the bigger part of a parachute behind her, except rather than blinding neon colors that would have been appropriate for a parachute, the entire thing was a ludicrously vibrant shade of brown that kept switching between bronze and a flat mahogany color as the girl threw it across the end of Catherine's bed. "Look at this mess!"

"That's a lot of shit going on there," said Puck, eyebrows shooting up as he stared at the mass of material spilling over the mattress. "I'm sure it'll look gorgeous, though. Lady Weaver may be excessive, but not the point she's ever made someone look bad. God forbid. That would totally ruin her reputation, and we all know how much she values her work as a seamstress of the Seelie Court."

"You hush," Nikki snapped at him, glaring, "You get it easy. You get to wear a nice pair of slacks, a shirt and a cape, and your nice boots. Cat and Tri and I have to wear heels."

"And you'll absolutely mah-velous," said Puck in possibly the gayest voice any of them had ever heard leave a straight man's mouth.

"If he does that again," Trinity said, barely stifling her laughter, "I'm writing him off as Ash's scorned lover. That was _too _good of an imitation for a straight guy to pull off."

"Madam," said Puck, looking affronted as he sat up on the bed, glaring. "Are you saying that you doubt my heterosexual preferences as a man?"

"Yeah, pretty much," said Trinity with an idle shrug, then grimaced as the movement reminded her she was wearing her dress. "Excuse me for a few minutes here; I need to change out of this miniature nightmare. I'll be right back. Talk amongst yourselves."

"Yes, highness," said Puck with a dramatic salute. "We'll be sure to exchange the worst gossip behind your back and then speak sweet nothings to you the moment you return."

"You're an ass," Trinity informed him even as she swept from the room, her dress trailing behind her.

"Tell me something we don't know about him," said Nikki with a snort, giving Puck a look as he fell back onto the bed again, smirking.

"I'm an astonishingly good poker player," he said, waggling his eyebrows. "We should totally play strip poker sometime. It'll be great."

"You think of the worst ways to pass the time," sighed Demon, leaning a hip against one of the bed posts and rolling his yellow-green eyes towards the ceiling. "And scoot over, you're taking up too much space."

"Lay on the other bed," said Puck, scowling as Demon reached over to push the red headed faery's legs out of the way so he could sit down.

"The other bed is currently serving as residency to a couple of bunches of spider silk and lace," Demon said, leaning back across the foot of the bed and stretching hugely in a very sinewy cat-like fashion before curling up on his side, his head angled towards his knees with one hand over his face. "And this is my bed in any case."

"Pssh," said Puck, rolling his emerald eyes. "Since when do you play the yours-and-mine game, cat?"

"Since this became my bed," said Demon, his voice muffled as he spoke from behind his hand.

"Well, learn to share," Puck advised him, reaching over with a foot and nudging the Cait Sith in the back. "Because until I am told to leave by those that I would take orders from—and they are few in number—I am staying right here."

Demon muttered incoherently under his breath as rapid footsteps signaled Trinity's return, and a split second later the girl came practically flying into the room, dressed in her usual t-shirt and jeans, her feet bare, and a dazzling smile of excitement on her face as she clutched a letter to her chest. Racing through the door, only pausing to kick it shut behind her, she squealed and dashed over to throw herself on Nikki and Catherine, who stared at her as she bounced on the spot, looking about ready to come out of her skin with excitement.

"Breathe," Nikki told her friend as Trinity neared hyperventilation.

"Words," Catherine added when Trinity managed to take a huge breath and had started waving her letter frantically in their faces.

"Tertius," was all the girl managed to blurt out, and Nikki and Catherine got identical expressions of shock and excitement on their faces.

"Well, read it!" Nikki commanded, face splitting into a huge grin. "Go on!"

Catherine didn't say anything, but she didn't really need to as Trinity was already settling herself on the trunk at the end of the bed and tearing into the letter with a kind of desperate eagerness. Puck merely watched from the other side of the bed, and looked ready to make an idle comment when Nikki caught his eye and told him in a very severe voice,

"This is the point where you don't talk unless we tell you to."

Puck sat there a moment, staring at her, then made a great show of sealing his lips and tossing away an invisible key before putting his hands behind his head and watching through half closed emerald eyes as Trinity finally got the note in the envelope she was holding and unfolded it with all the care in the world—as though it might come apart in her hands—and began to read silently to herself.

Catherine and Nikki knew far better than to ask her to read it aloud, and merely sat in anxious silence, waiting for the moment when Trinity would finish reading, and hoping they got at least a few hints as to what Tertius had managed to put on paper.

It didn't take very long, and by the end Trinity looked ready to cry, but the huge smile on her face told them all they were tears of joy, and she breathed out a blissful sigh as she hugged the letter to her chest, her cheeks turning a light pink color.

"I don't even know what it says," Nikki said, grinning hugely, "But I can tell that's a good letter, right there. He's got my approval."

"Mine, too," said Catherine with a soft smile at Trinity. "Do we get to hear the jist of what he said?"

Trinity seemed to think on it for a moment, pulling the letter away to reread it a couple times more, still with glittering tears in her eyes and that euphoric smile on her face, then wiped at her eyes and mumbled,

"Basically, he can't wait to see me again, and…he's left his heart with me."

Nikki's eyes glowed with warmth as she stared down at her friend, and Catherine's face broke into a joyous smile as she also gazed at Trinity.

"You lucky wench," sighed Nikki, shaking her head. "That boy is in love with you, you know."

"Mm-hmm," sighed Trinity, beaming down at the letter in her hand, knees pulled up to her chest, her face practically radiating with an internal glow, and Puck couldn't help but smile as well.

"I know I'm not supposed to say anything until instructed to," he said slowly, "But congrats, Tri. Just…a little bit of warning: don't let anyone in the court see that letter. That could cause some problems. I'm happy for you and all, but I also don't want you getting the wrong end of any of the nobles or—God forbid—Titania or Oberon."

"Trust me, I know," Trinity said, sobering up at once and quickly shoving the letter back in the envelope. "The only reason I managed to get this was because Meghan signed and sealed it. She knows about how Tertius and I feel, so I'm just glad she isn't letting politics get in the way of it. She's probably the only one of the five rulers that wouldn't. Well…" She frowned thoughtfully. "Ash might not, either, but he's more politically directed than Meghan on issues like this. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't know yet."

"He knows," said Puck decisively. "He might not quite agree with it, but he's not about to get in a fight with Meghan when that would mean completely ridiculing what she and he went through to be together."

"True," said Nikki with a small nod. "And Meghan wouldn't like that at all."

"No, she would not," agreed Trinity with a rather dark smile. "I can just imagine the kind of fight they'd get into about it. And Ash probably already figured that Tertius would know better than to cause trouble coming to Elysium in the next couple of weeks. So he's probably trusting Tertius to keep it on the down low."

"And he probably will," said Catherine and Nikki nodded. "He knows what's at stake if it came out that you and he really like each other. Oberon would flip!"

"And I'd rather not see him go berserk," said Trinity, grimacing. "I'm sure he doesn't do it often, but I bet it's ugly when he does. If he turned Demon into a human form just for bringing you here, I just really don't want to think of what he'd do if he found out what's going on with Tertius and I."

"Requesting permission to speak," Puck said from the bed. Nikki cast him a quizzical look, to which he grinned.

"Fine, granted," she said, rolling her eyes. "What do you want to say, fine sir?"

"I just wanna know if they've kissed yet," said Puck with a wicked smirk. "They disappeared into the forest early the other morning and I heard Ash giving Glitch hell about it. Just curious if anything super, extraordinary or intimate went on."

"As a matter of fact," said Trinity in a slow voice, giving Puck a look, "It did _not_."

"Aw, really?" Puck looked astounded. "You mean you guys just went for a stroll and did _nothing_?"

"Pretty much," she said, shrugging and smirking.

"You didn't even kiss?!" he asked, looking almost outraged.

"Nope," she said, popping the word like bubblegum.

"Man, you have no excitement in your love life," Puck sighed, looking totally let down as he glared at her. "You need to spice things up. Add a little heat."

"Puck," sighed Nikki, looking wearily up at the faery boy, "They've only known each other for a week. Give it a rest. They'll kick it up a notch when they're ready, alright?"

"Hmph," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "Assuming they ever do. They're tiptoeing! They need to strut it out."

"Strutting it out would just cause unnecessary drama in the court," said Trinity with a pointed look at the faery. "Or weren't you the just telling me to keep it on the down low around Oberon?"

"I did, yes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get in some action behind the scenes," said Puck, giving her an exasperated look.

"Let it go, Goodfellow," sighed Demon from the end of the bed, sounding exhausted. "You're speaking to a deaf woman."

"I am not deaf," said Trinity, a little affronted.

"It was a figure of speech," said the Cait Sith dully, not lifting his head. "You won't hear him out on the issue so he's better off just letting it drop while he still has some dignity left. That, and I am sure his limited amount of free speech has run out by now. He needs to renew his pass."

"Oh, yeah?" Puck gave the Cait Sith a dirty look. "And what happened to you not saying a word while we're in here, huh? I thought that was part of the deal. You don't say a word and I only speak when I'm permitted."

"Either way, you're both doing a pretty lousy job at it," observed Nikki. "I'm thinking we should just kick you out in the hall and have done with it."

"Mercy," said Demon in a pained voice.

"Wuss," snorted Puck, "She can't kick us out!"

"Says the guy who watched me glamour a thirty-foot tree from a two foot sapling," said Nikki with a wicked smile at Puck, who immediately seemed to reconsider what he'd just said and offered her the meekest smile he could managed.

"I am always your humble servant," he said in an innocent voice. "Meek, lowly…"

"Just shut up," Catherine advised him as Nikki narrowed her eyes. "You'll stay if you can stop talking."

"Too bad we don't have any duct tape," sighed Trinity as she eyed Puck as well, as though she seriously wished they had such an item at their disposal. "It would come in handy in a situation like this."

"Indeed it would," agreed Nikki. "But, alas, we have none. We'll have to settle for threatening them."

Turning away from Puck, who was still giving her the most appeasing expression he could, as though it would endear her to let him keep his place, she turned to Catherine, who was looking in amusement between her dark haired friend and the red headed faery on the bed.

"So," Nikki sighed, feeling a slight twisting in her stomach as she considered just what she could say to Catherine. She really had two options…bring up the unwanted issue, or move on to a neutral topic and stay in safe waters. Unfortunately, she'd run out of neutral topics and she was already worried enough not to care if she stirred the waters a little… "Cat, I know you said you would tell us what was bothering you when you were ready, but I'm kind of on pins and needles right about now and I just want to know what's going on."

She'd guessed the effect would be immediate and unpleasant, and she was half right. While the room was instantaneously silent, and all eyes immediately fixed on either her or Catherine, and even Demon peeked through his fingers, Catherine didn't quite give the reaction Nikki had been bracing herself for. She'd expected that Catherine would give her that apologetic look she always did, and say she was sorry but that she still wasn't ready yet, but not to worry because she was really okay, even though Nikki wouldn't have believed it if Catherine told her so. But Catherine didn't do any of that. Instead, the girl glanced sideways at her, her expression abruptly cutting off, before looking down fixedly at her toes and shifting uncomfortably on the spot, her arms coming up to circle herself, as though for some kind of protection.

"I know you're worried," she mumbled after a moment, "But I really can't talk about it right now…"

"Cat," said Nikki, a little desperately.

"I can't, Nikki, I'm sorry," murmured Catherine, turning her face away. "It won't kill anyone to not know, so please stop asking about it. You and Trinity have kind of been nagging me all day, and I already told you both I'd tell you what happened when I was ready, and I'm not yet. So could you both please just leave it alone?"

She hadn't wanted to say that to Nikki, but she didn't have a choice now. She had hoped that her friends would just accept that she wasn't ready to bring up the issue yet and let it work its way out until she was ready, like they always did whenever one of them ended up having a problem. But this hadn't quite gone the way she had hoped. They had both taken it in turns to bring up whether she was okay or not, and while she knew they only did it out of their concern and love for her, she just couldn't handle it. It wasn't that she didn't love them just as much as she always had, or that she didn't trust them, it was that she didn't trust herself right now, and she just couldn't face it right now.

"I'm sorry," she murmured when the silence in the room continued to stretch, as neither Trinity nor Nikki had anything to say in response, and were both staring at her in a kind of stunned disbelief. "I just…can't talk about it right now…"

"It's fine," said Nikki, but her voice gave away that she was slightly stunned and a little hurt. "Just…"

But she stopped, knowing that she really shouldn't say anything, and wishing she hadn't to begin with.

"Just tell us one thing, okay, Cat?" Trinity said, not quite ready to give up yet, especially when she could see Catherine pulling in on herself like a clam about to snap shut for good. "Did anyone assault you? Like…I mean…"

"No," murmured Catherine, shaking her head without looking up at anyone, "No one assaulted me."

Silence fell again, more absolute than before, as Nikki and Trinity exchanged worried looks. They knew Catherine wasn't lying, but that just made it even harder to imagine what had happened to her to cause her to be so reluctant to let them in on something that was obviously changing basically her whole personality. Something else had to be terribly wrong, and they didn't know what, and Catherine had just told them point blank that she wasn't ready to talk to them about it. So it was either that bad or they were making such a big deal out of it that she was getting frustrated with the pair of them. Or possibly a combination of both.

Demon watched silently from his vantage point on the bed, and Puck also observed, knowing well enough now not to open his mouth lest he endure some very ugly consequences as a result, and make himself like crap if he ended up spouting the wrong thing, but as the silence continued to stretch on, and the tension in the room built higher and higher Demon seemed to figure it was time to end it and with a sigh he pushed himself up, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed and lifting his languid yellow-green eyes to Catherine's face as she briskly glanced up at him, then away.

"Catherine," he said quietly, and she twitched, reluctantly looking over at him, "I'm just going to ask two, maybe three, questions. They won't be invasive. They're just simple yes-or-no questions. Would you answer them for me?"

She held his penetrating gaze for a long moment, not speaking, then nodded slowly.

"Were you attacked in any way during the time you were gone and I was at Spindle's?" he asked.

"No," she murmured.

"Will you eventually tell us what happened when you feel you can trust us with the truth?"

"Yes."

He eyed her for a minute, his gaze contemplative, and when she hoped he might have finished his round of questions—since he had said it would only be a couple—he dashed her hopes by asking one more.

"Does this have anything to do with Prince Sage?"

Catherine felt her heart still, and her mouth went very dry as she stared straight back into Demon's eyes, and the Cait Sith watched her without blinking, his gaze seeing too much, and she saw those all-too-knowing eyes narrow the longer she took to answer.

"Catherine," he said after a solid minute had passed in total silence, "Does it or doesn't it?"

Nikki and Trinity were watching their friend, practically holding their breath as they waited for Catherine to answer, though, really, it wasn't even required anymore. Without even speaking, Catherine had given her answer. Whatever had happened, whether it was assault or it wasn't, something had most definitely happened between the eldest Winter Prince and Catherine, and Nikki now felt that her earlier suspicions regarding the Prince and spill-your-guts were becoming a more and more likely circumstance, though in the back of her mind a little voice that sounded like Trinity's continued to nag 'But why would he need it?' In the meantime, Catherine was still gazing in clear anguish at Demon, who waited another two minutes before sighing and letting his eyes fall closed for a very long moment.

"If you're not going to say yes or no," he told her quietly after a moment's meditation, "I am going to interpret it to mean that he did, because you wouldn't have any reason to be silent if the answer was no."

Catherine looked down at her feet, feeling guilt coiling in her stomach, though whether it was because of something to do with how she had refused to answer Demon or because the Cait Sith had basically seen through her whole façade and she felt like she'd betrayed herself somehow she couldn't be sure. All she knew was that now everyone currently in the room knew something had happened in the time that she had been gone from Demon's care and spent the night away with Sage in his Lodge, but they still didn't know what. And as Demon lay back down on the bed, clearly through with his minor interrogation, no one seemed about to ask what, either, for which she was somewhat grateful. Still, the feeling of both Nikki's and Trinity's eyes on the back of her neck unsettled her, and she half wished for a single moment that they would leave, but then she felt even worse as she considered that for the first time in nearly ten years—during a time when she felt like coming apart—she didn't want her friends to be there to help hold her together.

She shouldn't have to feel like that, like she couldn't trust them to stand with her in a hard time when they had always been there for her no matter what, and she had been there for them, too, but she just wanted to be alone. She _wanted _to come apart. For the past few days she felt as though the strings she'd managed to stitch herself together with had been coming slowly unraveled, and at any minute they would fall away and she'd collapse, and she wanted to be alone when it happened. She didn't want to endure the shame of her friends seeing her like that, because she honestly didn't know what she would do when it happened. They already spent their time worrying for her when they had their own lives to think about, and it wasn't fair for her to stand there and expect them to continue worrying for her when she should be able to work out her issues on her own. Her problem wasn't life threatening, she wasn't suicidal, she knew that much, so it wasn't as though by asking them to give her time alone she was looking for a way to put herself out of her misery. No, she wouldn't ever do that to them, and not to herself, either.

But she had to look at it from a different point of view. Trinity was in love with Tertius, a knight she shouldn't even be considering as a possible love interest, and risked everything by planning to see him during Elysium under the watchful eye of her father's king and the other rulers. Nikki might not quite have the dramatic behind the scenes romance going on, but she was a half human in the Seelie Court, and Titania—since she was unable to even consider laying harmful hands on Trinity—was choosing to direct her anger and spitefulness at Nikki instead, and Nikki loved Puck. Puck, who was also on Titania's ever long list of people she despised, and that could only make matters worse. The two of them had more issues to consider for themselves than Catherine did for herself, and that was one of the reasons she didn't want them to stand there, putting themselves on the line for her when she should be doing it for them when they stood to lose so much more. She hadn't even lost anything, she was only stuck in the illusion that she had, and she could get over that. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.

If something ever happened to Nikki or Trinity because of what was going on in their lives while they were too busy worrying over her, that would be an altogether different story. They stood to lose so much, real things with real value. She didn't have that. She didn't have to worry about losing anything because she hadn't really had it to begin with. In the back of her mind, she knew it would make more sense to just open up to them and tell them everything, so they could finally wrap their heads around it and move on and realize that the world wasn't going to fall apart, but she suspected that wouldn't quite be the case. They would still worry. They'd worry more, knowing that she would have to see Sage at Elysium in a couple of weeks, and they were already worried enough thinking about ways to ensure that neither Mab nor Rowan made any attempts to harm her while they were there despite the assurances from Oberon that Catherine would be protected.

So, even if they were upset with her, even if it might be the better thing to do to tell them what had happened, she couldn't…

"I'm sorry," she practically whispered, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the floor, trying not to let the tears burning behind her eyes well up and overwhelm her.

"Don't be," said Nikki softly, her tone no longer hurt, just tender and sympathetic, and Catherine felt her vision blur as Nikki's arms came around her, hugging her. "We're just scared for you, Cat…We want to make it better…whatever it is or was…"

Catherine nodded wordlessly, and felt another pair of arms circle her as Trinity joined the group embrace. Puck merely watched from the bed, feeling he shouldn't intrude on the moment, but not quite sure if he should get up and just leave either. So he sat there on the bed, a small frown on his face, and a slight pain in his heart to see the three girls hugging each other, remembering that the last time they had taken up this position had been at Spindle's, right after Catherine's momentous breakdown.

He didn't really think they were about to have a repeat of that day, but it looked pretty close, and he could see the tears in all three girls' eyes as they held onto each other, and felt that tug in his heart as he looked at Nikki and saw her trying to fight back the inevitable flow as she petted Catherine's hair. He didn't know if she was near tears because of how Catherine refused to be honest with her, or because that she now had some kind of confirmation about whom the cause of the whole fiasco might be and it hurt her, but whatever the reason, he rather felt like breaking something seeing Nikki so close to tears. He hated it…He hated it when she cried, or was upset. She was too sunny and brilliant to ever have to be sad, or hurt, but then he supposed not everything in the world was given what it deserved…

That was why Fate was never quite the popular woman at parties…

"I'm sorry," Nikki murmured then, speaking to Catherine as she slowly pulled back to look at her friend, her eyes over bright, "For nagging…"

Catherine shook her head, lifting a hand to wipe at the beginnings of the tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault," she mumbled, "You're worried. You nag when you're worried. I'd think you didn't love me if you didn't nag me every now and then…"

"We just need to stop nagging you about this," Nikki said with a watery smile, and Catherine nodded mutely. "Alright. We'll stop…or we'll try. If we start again, just smack us."

"Please," Trinity added when Catherine glanced up at the pair of her friends with a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Really, Cat…We worry, but you need to tell us when to let you have your own thing."

"She kind of did," Demon grumbled from his bed, easily shattering the sentimentality of the moment with his blunt commentary. "Those times when she would inform you that she wasn't ready to talk about it but she eventually would were meant to be her way of saying to leave the issue alone. You humans are absolutely dreadful listeners sometimes… When she says she'll tell you eventually, you need to just believe her and move on. Worrying about something you know nothing about isn't going to help you get any closer to the answer. I trust her when she says she'll talk about it sooner or later and I have only known her for the past couple of years. As her friends from much farther back, I would have expected the two of you to be able to figure out that she sticks to her word and give her the space she needs. I suppose that was expecting a bit too much, though."

"You're being rude, you know," Puck informed the Cait Sith, nudging him with his foot so the cat-man muttered and reached out to smack at Puck's leg. "Hey, I'm just saying. They were in the middle of a serious breakthrough on their friendship and you went and shattered it! That's a no-no!"

"You're both hopeless," sighed Catherine, actually rather grateful for the intervention on Demon's part, and feeling a little more forgiving towards him since he had been the one to bring up Sage in the first place.

She should have expected it, though. Even if she had managed to hide clues to the truth from Nikki and Trinity—though she suspected they had been just as knowing about the possible connection with Sage just without letting her onto it—she should have known Demon would eventually bring it up. He might not have known her for long, but he had done much more observing in the past couple of years than most humans did in almost a decade. Sure, Nikki and Trinity knew the how's and why's of her personality from day to day, but Demon could see the broader picture as well because he had spent nearly three years just sitting and watching her, and nothing else. Even if he hadn't known her anywhere near as long as Trinity and Nikki had, he had watched her long enough to know almost as much as they did about her. And that was rather frightening…

"We should get ready," sighed Trinity then, breaking the small silence that had fallen over the room. "Dinner will be ready soon."

"Already?" asked Puck, craning his neck to peer in surprise out the window where the sun was beginning to set over the distant horizon to the west.

"The day went by faster than we realized," Nikki murmured, still hugging Catherine's arm, her chin resting on her friend's shoulder. She gave a small groan then, and looked back with apprehension at the massive brown _thing _that was supposed to be her dress lying across Catherine's bed. "I really don't want to wear that…it's a dinner for crying out loud. A regular dinner! It's no one's birthday, is it?"

"Hey, it could be mine," suggested Puck, rolling off the bed and stretching his long arms over his head.

"We would know if it were your birthday, Puck," Nikki sighed, grinning at him. "You wouldn't let us go five minutes without reminding us until we finally just stitched your mouth shut or beat you unconscious to get you to stop talking about it."

"And I would hope you wouldn't ever forget after," Puck said, sauntering around the bed with a devious grin on his face as he came over and leaned forward to press a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Why do you keep kissing my forehead?" she demanded, the repetitiveness of it finally making a stamp in her mind as he leaned away, and he rolled his eyes as though her question were totally expected.

"Because, silly girl," he said with all the simplicity of speaking to a five year old, "If I kissed you where I'd really like to, either you would slap me, or your lovely friends would slap me. And I'm not a huge fan of masochism, so I'm holding back for now until I get permission."

"Permission to kiss me where?" demanded Nikki, staring at him as though he'd just spoken in tongues.

Puck cocked an eyebrow at her, as though not believing she was seriously asking him that question, but as she continued to ogle him in a manner he associated with one having just witnessed the birth of a five headed ogre he sighed and shook his head in mock despair.

"Here, beautiful," he said, and reached forward to touch the tip of his finger to her lips. "Right _here_. See? There."

He tapped her lips again, then straightened up, grinning as crimson color flooded her cheeks and her brown eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

"I could have told you that one, Nik," Trinity muttered, and even Catherine was smirking.

"Shut up," Nikki muttered, looking thoroughly embarrassed as she pointedly avoided looking at Puck, who was looking distinctly entertained by her sudden bashfulness.

"Well, I think cat-man and I will step out so you lovely ladies can change," he sighed, knocking his knuckles over Nikki's head before scampering lightly out of the way as she aimed a rather vicious kick at his shins. "We will wait to escort you into the dining hall when you are prepared to make your way there. Adieu, fine madams."

And, after nudging Demon repeatedly until the Cait Sith grudgingly got to his feet and followed him, Puck sashayed out of the room, leaving Nikki, Catherine and Trinity alone.

"I'm going to kill him in his sleep one of these days," Nikki grumbled under her breath, stepping away from Catherine to shed her burgundy day dress before snatching her bronze dinner gown from the bed and stepping into it, though it proved harder to put on than she had originally expected it to, and Trinity had to step forward to help her shimmy all the way into it and fasten the innumerable buttons that ran down the back of it and into the train flowing across the floor like a river of bronze.

"You love him, dear, learn to live with him," said Catherine with a small smile as she, too, stripped out of her casual day-wear and gingerly lifted the periwinkle gown from the bed, still looking uncertain even as she slid into it, putting her arms through the flowing sleeves and turning so Trinity could also button up the fastenings on the back as she had for Nikki.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Nikki said, though she seemed to smile a little at the idea of being in love with Puck as she tugged at the sleeves of her gown and smoothed the front of her skirt, stepping towards the only available mirror in the room to casually admire herself. "It's really not as bad as I thought it would be…it's not even that heavy. It's just…"—she frowned as she slowly pirouetted on the spot—"…big."

"Big is beautiful here," sighed Trinity as she smoothed down the back of Catherine's gown, stepping back to admire her two friends, a smile on her face as Catherine joined Nikki by the mirror to check out her new ensemble as well. "Speaking of which, I need to get into my dress, too, and it's bigger than either of yours. I could probably fit five grown people under the skirt of it if they crouched down far enough."

"Yes, well, let's not think about the number of men you could hide under your skirts," Nikki said with a wry grin thrown back at her friend, who rolled her sapphire eyes.

"Please," snorted Trinity, wrinkling her nose at the very idea, "Like I'm going to let a bunch of perverts up my dress. I'm tempted to set booby traps under it just in case, though. You know the satyrs. They can never remember what's good for them."

"I still feel kind of bad for that one the first time we came here," Nikki remarked as she finally had enough of looking at herself and stepped away from the mirror. "Remember? Oberon turned him into a bramble bush because he apparently got too friendly with you."

"Ugh, I've been trying to forget," said Trinity with a delicate shudder, briefly moving over to the bed to retrieve the letter she had dropped on the mattress and tucking it into the back pocket of her jeans.

"The satyrs are really my least favorite fey in possible the entire Nevernever," Catherine said from the mirror, idly combing her fingers through her hair and turning this way and that to try and take in the whole of her periwinkle gown, though it seemed an impossible task as big as the dress was.

"And we all know why," Nikki said with a frown at her friend. She knew how Cat was about sexually aggressive men in any shape or form, and satyrs were no exception, fey or not, though this was the first time she'd heard Cat make any verbal opposition to the goat-men. "Don't worry, though, Cat. With Oberon playing the guardian of all three of us and Trinity being part of the nobility they'd be suicidal to get near you or I. Especially you, considering Demon still has glamour intact and has made it his business to protect you."

"Yeah," sighed Catherine, nodding as she also turned away from her reflection, trying not to get lost in the beauty of the periwinkle spider's silk that seemed to cling to her body like a glove, lighter than air. "He'd probably turn them all into mice and chase them."

For some reason, the idea of Demon in human form scurrying after a bunch of mice came to mind, and she couldn't help but giggle. Clearly thinking the same thing as she was, Trinity and Nikki also chuckled.

"Well, let's get out of here, and I'll go change into my circus tent," said Trinity with a small, sarcastic smile as she led the way over to the door. "You guys can either go ahead to the dining hall or wait for me."

"We'll wait," Nikki and Catherine said as one, the idea of going into a hall full of faery nobility and facing Titania on their own a little too much to make them feel safe, and they all broke into laughter as they exited the room, finding Puck and Demon standing just outside as they had said they would be. Puck had apparently taken the five or so minutes it had taken for the girls to get into their dresses to change as well.

His brown hoodie was gone, to be replaced with a light green tunic, over which he wore a dark brown cloak that fell just past his knees. He still wore his brown leather boots and hunter green pants, and he leaned against the wall with his arms over his chest, his eyes lighting up as he spotted Nikki in her gown. Giving a low whistle, he pushed off the wall and sauntered up to take her hand.

"Looking lovely, dear," he told her with a wink.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she said, taking in his cloak and tunic with an appraising eye. "I thought you'd just stay in your hoodie and say to hell with decorum."

"The thought crossed my mind," he admitted as he followed them the short few feet to Trinity's door so the girl could slip inside to change. "But I figured I'm already on Oberon's list as it is since he ended up in an argument his lady fair and I don't need to make more of a nuisance of myself today. Besides, if I start being a pain in the ass now, that means two long weeks here and I'm pretty sure getting myself turned into a crow or a rabbit or something else in the meantime would really leave a good impression with any of you. Especially you."

He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes, secretly giddy at the feel of his fingers tangling easily with hers as they stood in the hallway, waiting for Trinity.

"I notice you haven't really gotten prettied up, though," she said, turning then to Demon, who was still dressed in his black tunic and slacks as he stood in silence beside Catherine, who was gazing up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Like it would be necessary," said the Cait Sith indifferently. "I am not part of the nobility."

"But you're a friend of ours," said Catherine softly, turning her gaze onto him and frowning slightly. "I would think that would at least constitute a kind of acknowledgement."

"Not from Oberon," snorted Demon, looking slightly weary. "Not after the lengths he went to punish me last night. No, I will attend as I am. Though I doubt I will actually be permitted to stay for the actual dinner. It is more likely I will just be escorting you there and then joining the rest of the castle staff in the common dining room from this morning."

"But that's not fair," protested Catherine, now looking upset as she stared up at Demon.

"Life isn't fair," he said very softly, narrowing his eyes at her. "And it is merely a dinner. I will not die from being unable to attend. And I thought you were upset with me…"

He cocked an eyebrow as she blinked in confusion at him, though as they continued to look at each other she seemed to finally the connection to what he was saying and quickly looked at the ground, feeling her cheeks darken slightly.

"I was," she muttered, "But I'm not anymore…"

"Oh?" Demon sounded bemused. "Well, that was a rather swift recovery."

"Could we not talk about it right now?" she asked in a low voice, her hands clasping together in front of her. "Or I _will _be upset with you again. I just told Nikki and Trinity not to nag me about it…"

Nikki found herself looking away purposely as she realized what they were talking about, and instead pretended to be overly interested in how much larger Puck's hand was than hers, lifting their interlocked fingers and fanning them out so they rested right up against each others. She noticed with a slight pang that his fingers were a good inch longer than hers, and his palm was fairly larger than hers as well so she almost felt dwarfed.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly, looking down at her with amused green eyes. "Other than purposely tuning out the conversation they're having."

"You have big hands," she said without thinking, now taking his hand in her own and turning it over to inspect it further, as though looking for some kind of magical characteristic that she might have previously overlooked. "Way bigger than mine. I hadn't noticed before."

"I wouldn't have expected you to," he chuckled, lacing his fingers with hers again and lifting her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles. "Hands aren't generally something people notice about a person."

"You don't notice hands?" she asked, looking up at him, blinking curiously. He shook his head, grinning, his emerald eyes glowing from behind his fiery colored bangs. "Then what _do _you notice?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm curious," she said honestly.

"Hmm." Puck gave her a slow once-over and then smirked. "I'll tell you if you tell me what you notice first about a person. Deal?"

"You really like making deals, don't you?" she asked in resignation.

"A habit of being a faery," he said with a shrug.

"Of course it is," she muttered, half to herself, then said, "I notice a person's eyes. The color, the shape. How they look at someone else. You can learn a lot about a person from their eyes."

"That's funny," mused Puck, "Because that's what I notice first, too."

"It's a common thing to notice," said Nikki, shrugging her shoulders. "And I like your eyes."

"Do you?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her and looking surprised. "Why?"

"I like green eyes," she said softly, reaching up with her hand to gently brush a fingertip across the corner of his brilliantly emerald colored eyes, "Especially yours. They're very bright. Like starlight."

"Really?" murmured Puck, and his eyes did sparkle like they were lit up by stars as he gazed down intensely at her, and now it was Catherine and Demon that were purposely tuning out the conversation. "I like your eyes, too…"

"Why?" asked Nikki, genuinely confused. "They're brown. That's boring."

"Brown, yes," Puck agreed with a little chuckle, "Boring, not even close. Brown makes me think of the trees, and the woods. That's home to me…and your eyes are always very warm and bright. They make me feel like I'm at home no matter where I am."

A dry cough from Demon went unnoticed by the two fey as they continued to stare at each other, and Nikki felt her heart begin to beat a little faster as Puck pressed another kiss to her hand, this time to the center of her palm so heat crept all the way from her fingertips down to her toes and into her cheeks so she flushed crimson. And Puck continued to gaze down without speaking into her dark eyes, his emerald gaze piercing like daggers, but warm like a summer's day, and it wasn't until Trinity reappeared from her room, loudly announcing she needed help fastening the back of her lavish gown, that they finally looked away from each other and Nikki stepped forward to assist her friend. A small smile playing across her mouth as she glanced back once at Puck to find him watching her with those eyes she loved so much.

"Alrighty," sighed Trinity when Nikki had finished buttoning her into her dress, which was a vivid gold color and glittered as she turned to face them, the faint sunlight still coming in through the windows illuminating her dress so it shone like the noonday summer sun. "Let's get on with the show, before Lord Pointy Ears sends some unnecessary escorts to get us. The last thing I need is a formal announcement when we get there that we're taking our seats to eat dinner."

"Demon says he won't be staying," Catherine said immediately as they set off down the hallway, and the Cait Sith looked like he might groan as Trinity turned a stunned look on him.

"Of course you are," she said, sounding confused. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I was trying to avoid a public confrontation with the fey nobility," he said dully. "And it only stood to reason that I wouldn't be invited by Oberon considering I was just punished last night for my law breaking and such things."

"He's gotten over it," said Trinity, rolling her eyes. "He'd probably change you back if it weren't for the fact that he's still punishing you and Titania wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he lifted your sentence so soon. But you're invited to the dinner, he just didn't think you'd wear any of the clothes he had made because I told him you didn't wear the night clothes he sent last night because they were probably uncomfortable to you."

"They were," muttered Demon, shuddering at the memory of the silken night shirt. It had felt like he was lying in a bed of maggots…

"So, I managed to convince him to just let you come as you were and to keep the nobles from saying anything to you about it," Trinity said with a delicate shrug as she led them purposefully down the hall, occasionally passing a satyr girl or piskie along the way as the lesser fey made their way to the common dining hall for their meal as well. "And if anyone _does _say anything about it, just ignore them."

"You're good at that, so it shouldn't be too hard," snickered Puck, giving Demon a brief thumbs up that had the Cait Sith scowling back at the faery. "Man, I'm still getting used to that…"

"What?" asked Nikki, glancing up at the faery in confusion.

"The fact that he can make facial expressions," said Puck, looking down at her with a slight grin. "You know how weird it is to remember he's a cat and see exactly what he's thinking because he can't seem to keep his muscles from working automatically? It's weird, but I enjoy it. I wonder if we could convince Oberon to turn Grimalkin into a human for a couple days."

"Grimalkin would wear a paper bag over his head from the shame of it," said Nikki with a derisive snort. "You wouldn't be able to see his face at all."

"Ah, damn, you're right," muttered Puck, looking disappointed as they finally reached two grand doors at the end of the hallway and paused outside as a pair of faery knights reached forward to draw the doors wide open for them. "Ah, well. It was a fun thought while it lasted. Now, let's go place nicies with the courtiers, huh?"

"Uck," muttered Nikki, even as she looped her hand into the crook of his arm, and Demon sighed morosely, casting a longing glance over his shoulder to where they could hear the noise of faeries coming from the common dining hall before resolutely stepping forward beside Catherine as someone inside the dining hall announced in a loud, carrying voice,

"The Lady Trinity and her companions, Lady Nicolette, Robin Goodfellow, Lady Catherine and the Cait Sith Demon."

"This might just kill me," muttered Demon in a weary undertone.

"You'll be fine," Catherine murmured, though she too felt like she was facing the gauntlet as she stepped carefully after Nikki and Puck, who were led by Trinity as the blond girl led the way into the dining hall, her head held high.


	18. Chapter 18

The moment they stepped inside, Catherine could feel the weight of all the nobles' eyes upon them, and had to remind herself to keep breathing before she could faint, and forced herself to look dead ahead to where Oberon was sitting at the head of an immense table, laden with food and set with shining silver cutlery and goblets. Immediately to his right sat Titania, who was wearing an expression of such disdain as she watched the approaching troupe that Nikki vaguely wondered to herself just how badly the argument with Oberon had gone when they'd last seen her. The other faery nobles merely leveled cold gazes at them as they passed, but did not dare show the same resentment as the Summer Queen as Trinity led the way down the long table towards five empty seats, three on Oberon's left side, and two directly following Titania's station at the table. Catherine prayed hard that she wouldn't be required to sit next to the Faery Queen, and felt a twinge of relief as Puck broke away from Trinity to lead Demon to the other side of the table to take up the two empty seats beside the Faery Queen, though she felt slightly guilty to see that Demon drew the short stick and ended up right beside the poisonous female, who gave him such a look of contempt that it was to his merit that he neither flinched nor seemed to take notice of her at all. He merely inclined his head respectfully as a furry little man drew out his chair, and seated himself without a word, turning his attention across the table to where a satyr girl was pulling out the three chairs for Trinity, Nikki, and Catherine. Trinity took the seat immediately to Oberon's left, and Nikki and Catherine took the two after hers respectfully.

Catherine would sooner have been in the middle of her two friends, given that as she settled herself as gracefully as she could on the edge of her seat as it was pushed in under her the faery noble to her left glanced down at her from his rather immense height; his neon blue eyes narrowing slightly from under his snowy white bangs, though his expression remained carefully neutral and he did nothing more than incline his head to her as she glanced at him. She returned the gesture, then hurriedly turned her attention to Oberon, who had risen from his seat and was now looking down the table with a calm, jade gaze. He lifted his arms, as though to encompass the mass of people before him.

"It is good that see that all of you have managed to join me this night," he said, his voice ringing clearly through the silent dining hall. "I especially am grateful that our two newest guests were able to join us."

At this he glanced pointedly at Demon and Catherine, who didn't speak or do anything other than look up at the Erkling, though Catherine secretly wished he would have sooner have left them out of it. She was now receiving rather cold stares from most of the fey nobility along the table, and Demon was being full out glared at by several more brazen courtiers, though he did not seem to notice, and neither did Oberon as the Summer King went on,

"As you all know, Elysium takes place in just a fortnight. Preparations are already being made for this event, and I hope you will do me the honor of attending."

No one spoke, though Catherine figured no one was really supposed to. Daring to glance around the table, she felt a jolt to find Titania glaring openly at her with poor disguised hate, and quickly looked away, only to find the noble next to her still watching her through his narrowed, electric blue eyes. Feeling as though she were caught between a hard spot and a rock and suddenly wishing she had taken Demon up on the idea of eating in the common dining hall, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat and chanced a frantic glance at Nikki, who was looking back at her out of the corner of her brown eyes. When they locked gazes, her friend briefly looked at Oberon, then down into her lap, and subtly moved a hand under the table until she could clasp one of Catherine's trembling hands and give it a reassuring squeeze.

"Now, let us eat," said Oberon, letting his arms fall to his sides as he finished his little speech, and the rest of the nobility turned away from their King to begin their meals. Catherine took a shaky breath as Nikki turned fully to her now, and gave her friend a rather panicked look.

"You're okay," Nikki whispered to her, reaching forward to spear a couple slices of what looked like a roast bird and passing them onto Catherine's plate. "Just eat and then we can go."

"I think Demon had the right idea about eating with the others," Catherine confided in a whisper, and Nikki gave a small grin. "I'm not cut out for this. I'd sooner just leave now and starve."

"Nice try, but you need to eat," Nikki told her, though she looked very sympathetic and was still holding Catherine's hand as she turned to motion one of the furry men forward to fill their goblets with sparkling white liquid that shimmered like diamonds as it was poured out. "And don't drink all of this in one go. It's faery wine and I learned the hard way how potent it can be to half humans. Just sip on it until you're finished eating."

"I'll remember that," sighed Catherine, squeezing Nikki's hand once before slipping her fingers free to carefully pick up her fork and knife, praying her fingers wouldn't shake so badly that she dropped them in the process of cutting her meat into smaller portions. To be honest, she felt too nauseous to eat, but under the baleful glare of the Summer Queen and with the rest of the courtiers bearing witness to any mistake she might make, she speared a small cut of the meat and inserted it into her mouth, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on her plate.

The meat might have tasted mouthwatering on any other occasion, but as she chewed slowly on it she felt as though she might as well have just put a piece of cardboard in her mouth because her mouth was so dry. She glanced around the table, still very self conscious, and felt her stomach dissolve to see the fey noble beside her—though eating with great concentration—was still watching her out of the corner of his eyes. Swallowing hard and ducking her head to avoid his scrutiny, she inserted another piece of meat into her mouth, tempted to take a gulp of faery wine to wash it down but remembering Nikki's advice and not touching the drink, though she felt like she might just choke from how dry her mouth was.

"Here…" The soft voice came from her left, where the sidhe sat, and she started a bit as he nudged something gently in her direction. Glancing down, she saw it was a tiny platter of grapes she didn't remember seeing there before. They didn't quite look like regular grapes, as they were a striking blue color and covered in orange spots, and she felt uneasy looking down at them.

"You will be fine if you eat them," the sidhe murmured quietly, and she glanced up to meet his vivid blue gaze again as he watched her, "Just slowly…they will be easier to eat than the bird."

She stared at him, completely taken aback, but he merely smiled slightly and glanced over his shoulder to where a satyr in a dark green vest stood with a pitcher. Beckoning the server forward, bent his head and murmured,

"Fetch a glass of water for the lady. And _do not _put anything in it."

The satyr bowed and clopped away to fill the order, leaving the sidhe to straighten in his chair while Catherine continued to stare in disbelief at him out of the very corner of her eyes, feeling if she went full out gaping at him someone would be bound to notice.

He glanced at her again, and that same small smile from before came onto his face.

"Are you perhaps concerned of my motives?" he asked in an undertone, keeping his eyes partially on her face as he served himself a rather grand portion of meat from the platter in front of him.

"I…" She stammered, her throat dry, and he glanced at her again. Nudging the tray of odd grapes towards her again with his elbow he gave her a rather pointed look and she delicately plucked one from the silver plate and put it into her mouth, chewing slowly, almost prepared to black out the minute the skin broke.

She didn't however, and a subtle taste that wasn't quite sweet but not quite bitter flooded her mouth, along with the juice of the fruit, which helped her to swallow more easily.

"You were saying," the sidhe prompted her once she had successfully managed to swallow the fruit.

"Why are you helping me?" she whispered to him.

"An excellent question," he murmured back, glancing behind him as the server from before appeared carrying a goblet of crystal clear water, which he placed in front of Catherine before bowing out to stand at the wall again. "I am not quite sure. Drink."

Catherine, feeling more and more weirded about the moment, did as he said and lifted the goblet of water, hoping the satyr had followed through and not putting a single other than clean water in it, and carefully sipped at it, feeling relief as the cool liquid slid down her parched throat. She saw Nikki shift slightly on her right, and glanced around at her friend to see the girl looking past her towards the white haired sidhe with a slightly bewildered expression, though she looked much more worried than confused, and looked pointedly at the goblet in Catherine's hand as she met her friend's eyes.

"It's just water," Catherine whispered to her.

"Are you sure about that?" Nikki asked her, looking exceptionally uneasy, and held out a hand for it. Catherine handed it over, now feeling her stomach knotting up as she watched Nikki also take a careful sip, waiting for her friend to gasp and tell her she'd been poisoned. But Nikki merely lowered the goblet, staring into it with an expression of total bemusement on her face, before passing it back to Catherine and glancing again at the sidhe to her friend's left.

"So is it tainted?" Catherine asked, quietly enough that only Nikki would hear her.

Nikki shook her head, the expression in her dark eyes totally bewildered as she looked between Catherine and the Summer noble, then she turned away to tap Trinity on the shoulder and leaned over to murmur hurriedly in the girl's ear. Trinity glanced over Nikki's inclined head towards the sidhe as well, and her blue eyes narrowed in confusion as she listened to Nikki relay what she had witnessed. Catherine heard a soft, almost tired sigh from her left and glanced back to see the snowy haired fey looking slightly amused as he met Trinity's speculative gaze over Catherine's and Nikki's heads.

"Your friends do not trust me," he murmured to Catherine, flashing her a brief smile as he lifted his goblet to his lips for a small drink.

"Should I trust you?" she asked very quietly, placing her goblet of water back on the table and plucking another strange grape from the bunch in front of her, hoping she wasn't already in over her head as she placed it in her mouth.

"Another excellent question to which I have no real answer," the sidhe murmured with a sigh as he began to cut into his meat again. "All I can say with certainty is that you seem vaguely familiar to me, and not in a bad sense, so I see no reason to do you ill."

"Oh." Catherine blinked at him, now trying to remember for herself if perhaps she had seen him before, taking in his fair skinned face, his slender fey ears as they stuck out from the flowing white tresses of his hair, and his electric blue eyes, but she could not think of anywhere she might have seen him before aside from the night before when she had been in the throne room, but she didn't remember seeing him then, either. "Well, I'm glad, then…I don't really need more enemies here…"

"You have enemies?" the sidhe asked, sounding slightly curious, though from the way his gaze flickered momentarily to Titania, who was currently engaged in savaging her food with her knife, Catherine guessed he already knew exactly who she was talking about.

"A few," she admitted. "Not many of them here…I hope."

"You will always have enemies, regardless of where you tread," he warned her. "Speaking from personal experience…Though I do think you will be more prone to dislike considering your heritage."

"And you don't mind my heritage?" she asked lightly, though she was watching his face for a reaction.

"No, I do not," he said, and gave her that small smile of his again. "Odd as it may seem, I truly do not mind. You could not control who your parents were, after all. We do not choose our sires and mothers. They choose each other. And you are still a person, are you not?"

"I would hope so," she mumbled, looking down at her plate. "I've always been raised to think I was a person, though, since coming here, people seem very keen to prove otherwise."

"Then if you were raised as a person, continue to be a person," the sidhe advised her in a wise voice, surprising her as he plucked a small cake from a dessert platter farther down and placing it neatly on the edge of her plate. "So long as you believe it, others will eventually have to as well."

"And why do you say that?" she asked in a quiet voice, poking uncertainly at the unremarkable little tart in front of her.

"Because we in the Nevernever live for the truth," he murmured. "And if the truth is that you are a person, no one can continue to convince themselves of the lie that you are not. We cannot lie, not even to ourselves."

Catherine felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at his words, though she felt somewhere in the depth of her heart that she shouldn't let herself get carried off on the pretty words of a Summer noble, but was quickly jerked back to a rather harsh reality as Titania spoke abruptly from her seat not even five feet from Catherine, her voice high and cold.

"My Lord Sonata," she said, and when Catherine glanced up at the Summer Queen it was to see her giving the sidhe beside her a rather cold, empty smile, her blue eyes dancing with malicious intent, "I hope the half breed is not keeping you from your dinner?"

"Of course not, my Lady," said Sonata, and Catherine felt a flicker of recognition in the back of her mind as she played back his name through her head. "If anything, it is probably the turn around and I am keeping her from satisfying her hunger."

"Oh?" Titania's smile widened, though the emptiness and cold hate in her eyes burned even more brightly. "How…_nice_ that you two seem to be getting along so well."

Sonata did not answer, and Catherine purposely avoided looking at Titania until the Summer Queen's attention was quickly drawn away by Oberon speaking quietly to her in an undertone.

"Your name is Sonata?" Catherine whispered to the sidhe sitting next to her.

"Yes," he murmured. "That is my given name, at least. I hope you would not go so far as to ask my True Name."

"No, of course not," she murmured, stunned. "I know better than that. But…your name is familiar…"

"Is it?" he asked, sounding mildly surprised. "Strange…Perhaps it makes you think of a song. That is most often what my brothers tease me about, after all."

"You have brothers?" Catherine asked, glancing over at him.

"Three," he confirmed. "All of them younger, though one by several decades and the other two by mere minutes."

"You're a triplet?" she asked, eyes widening.

"Yes," he murmured, glancing over at her. "Is that familiar to you as well?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice faint now as she stared up at him, in sudden revelation. "I…I think I know you after all…"

Sonata smiled softly down at her, his electric blue eyes sparkling. "Really? And where do you know me from, do you imagine?"

"My childhood," she whispered.

Sonata eyed her for a long moment, his smile still in place, and secretive gleam in his eyes, before he sighed and turned back to his plate, though he continued to speak,

"I had thought you were familiar to me as well…How interesting… I never expected that you would remember me so long after the fact. Then again, you were always a very fascinating child."

Catherine felt like the floor had just disappeared from underneath her as she continued to stare at the Summer noble, her mind reeling as though she'd just gotten off a roller coaster, and felt her throat close as she played back a memory from far back in her childhood. She was on a playground in one of her favorite dresses. It had been a very pretty dress for a little girl of six, covered in silver sequins and lace. She had been wearing her favorite pair of red sparkly slippers, too, running around playing princess, imagining her prince coming to whisk her away. She had run up to the tallest part of the play set, which resembled a tower, and looked down to see her prince gazing back up at her through vividly blue eyes. The wind had played with his snow colored hair as he smiled at her and reached out his hand to touch hers.

"You were the prince," she whispered, gaping at him. "The imaginary prince my parents kept telling me I used to talk about all the time…I remember…"

She couldn't believe it. It was like she had been plunged headfirst into the most psychotic kind of dream come to life, and she felt her heart thudding in her chest as he continued to stare at Sonata, and he looked back at her through softly gleaming blue eyes.

"I remember you had brothers," she went on, still in an awed murmur, "Serenade and Score were triplets with you…and then Arin was the baby brother always chasing after the three of you…"

"You and Arin had good fun together," Sonata said, that small smile coming back to his face. "You would run around all day with each other until your parents called you away and then he would sulk for the rest of the day until you could come back again."

"And you were always there," she remembered, feeling tears burning behind her eyes. "Watching…"

"Of course," he murmured. "What would you have thought if your prince suddenly vanished before your eyes, never to return? Then again, you eventually grew up and moved away and forgot about me, though some part of you has apparently always kept me in mind if I managed to survive the years following. No other children could ever see me, no matter how many times I appeared, though they could always see Arin."

"I feel like I'm dreaming," she said faintly, lifting a hand to her forehead, which was beginning to throb with the certain beginnings of a headache. "This is so unreal…"

"And yet, totally realistic," he said with a wry smile, then glanced down to the cake still sitting on her plate. "Please eat, lady. You will waste away very quickly if you keep this diet. And nothing is poisoned or glamoured, I promise you."

Still in a daze, Catherine cut into the little cake, not really noticing the exotic taste of it in her mouth as she continued to stare avidly at Sonata, who also continued to watch her out of the corner of his eyes, until something across the table seemed to catch his attention and he glanced up to lock eyes with Demon, who was watching the sidhe with such a menacing expression that Sonata smiled.

"Your guardian is not very happy with me," Sonata murmured to Catherine, who glanced up in time to see Demon cut her a sharp look as well. "I hope he does not think I wish you harm."

"He's overprotective," she mumbled distractedly, looking away from Demon's speculative gaze to finish her cake.

"Hmm." Sonata seemed to contemplate her expression for a moment, then spared a last glance for Demon, who kept his narrowed, yellow-green eyes on the sidhe, then inclined his head to Catherine to murmur very quietly, "Is he perhaps your lover?"

Catherine almost gagged on the small bite of cake she had taken, but fortunately managed to swallow without making a spectacle of herself and turned to gape openly at Sonata, who merely blinked down at her in bemusement.

"No," she hissed, absolutely mortified. "He isn't!"

"Hm." He frowned slightly. "That is interesting…Given his protective demeanor over you and the heritage you share, I would have surmised…"

"No," she said firmly, her cheeks hot with embarrassment. "It isn't like that. He's just helping me look for my father."

"Of course," murmured Sonata. "Forgive me, I did not mean to seem offensive."

"No, no, it's fine," she muttered, "You just…caught me off guard is all."

"I will be more careful to avoid doing so in the future," Sonata said, "Though I would advise my lady to keep her guard up at all times while here. There are still those who would wish you harm despite Lord Oberon's command to keep you protected and safe here in Arcadia."

Catherine felt a chill creep down her spine at his words, and her gaze travelled unerringly to where Titania still sat rigidly, though the Queen was—mercifully—not looking at her at the moment, too busy leveling a glare at Trinity from across the table as Oberon spoke in an undertone to the girl.

"Just be careful, my lady," Sonata murmured, and she stared as something warm touched her hand. A moment later, she realized it was his hand, and as she sat there in stunned amazement, he lifted her knuckles to his lips and kissed them softly. "And feel free to call on me should the need arise. It has been an astounding honor to meet you again as a young woman, but I must take my leave for the night."

He gently lowered her hand back to her lap, and then glanced back at one of the servers, who rushed forward to edge his chair out so he might stand. Oberon glanced up at Sonata, who bowed his head.

"Forgive me, my Lord Oberon," the sidhe apologized as he stepped away from the dining table, "I am afraid I have matters of an important nature to be attending."

"Of course," Oberon said with a curt nod. "Will you be returning for Elysium in the fortnight?"

"Yes, my Lord," said Sonata.

"Very good," said Oberon, looking pleased. "Then goodnight, Lord Sonata. We look forward to welcoming you back again in a fortnight."

"I also look forward to it, my King. Goodnight. My Queen." He bowed regally to Titania as well, then with a last glance and small smile offered to Catherine turned and strode from the hall.

Dinner resumed normally after his departure, though Catherine felt a little dumbstruck as she continued to sit there, looking after him for a long moment before a sharp jab from her other side reminded her she wasn't alone.

"What the hell was that about?" Nikki hissed as Catherine turned to face her friend, who was staring at her with very wide eyes.

"I don't know if you'd believe me," Catherine muttered.

"Try me," said Nikki, cocking an eyebrow.

"Later," Catherine promised. "I don't like the way Titania's looking at us right now…"

And the Summer Queen was, indeed, giving them rather disparaging looks from her seat, as though she would rather like to turn them both into rabbits and set the wolves on them.

"Lady Catherine," she said then, her tone holding all the ice of a winter chill in her voice, "It seemed you and Lord Sonata had a great deal to discuss before his leaving. I hope you did not offend his lordship with your idle chit chat."

"No, my Lady," Catherine said softly, bowing her head. "I do not believe I did."

"Let us hope not," said Titania with a rather evil smile. "It would be absolutely shameful if you were to drive off a sidhe Lord, though I could understand completely if he felt the need to distance himself. Half breeds such as yourself are not generally common place among the court."

"Wife," said Oberon in a dangerous voice. "You will cease this at once."

Titania gave him her haughtiest look, then snapped her fingers so two satyr girls came hurrying forward to draw back her chair so she could rise to her feet, towering above the rest of the table.

"I am retiring for the night," she announced as Oberon slowly rose as well to take her hand and kiss it. "I hope the rest of you will enjoy your dinner. Husband, I will see you later in our chambers."

"As you wish, my Lady," murmured the Erkling, and Titania swept out of the hall, leaving a rather ominous silence behind her.

Across the table, Catherine saw Demon breathe a silent sigh of relief, as though he had been waiting all through the meal for the Queen to depart and leave him in peace, and even Oberon heaved a deep sigh as he resumed his seat, drawing a hand across his tired face.

"Thank God," Puck muttered, barely audible, as he stabbed at the meat on his platter. Oberon heard him, but did not rebuke him, and instead turned to Catherine with an almost apologetic expression.

"Pardon the Queen's temper," he said in his low voice, "She has become ill as of late and will not hear me when I attempt to ease her."

"It's fine," Catherine said meekly. "I don't exactly belong here, so…she's right to not appreciate me being here."

Nikki looked like she would very much like to repute that statement, but under Oberon's watchful eyes she kept her lips firmly shut and made a mental note to herself to give Catherine the ultimatum of a lifetime when they got back to their rooms, not to mention interrogating her about the sidhe that had been next to her. That was just a whole other piece of the puzzle she wanted to figure out.

Fortunately, at that moment Trinity seemed to decide it was time for them to leave, as she beckoned for one of the servers against the wall to come forward and pull her chair back, and two other servers came forward to do the same for Catherine and Nikki.

"My Lord, I think we'll turn in as well," Trinity told Oberon, who inclined his head to her. "Let's go, guys."

Taking the lead as before, she only paused so that Puck and Demon could also rise from the table, then strode out of the hall, leaving the rest of the nobility and Oberon to their dinner. The moment they were out of sight, Puck heaved a sigh of relief and Demon seemed to visibly relax.

"Jeez, that was just a pain in the ass," Puck declared as they marched down the now dimly lit hallway, following the glow of faery fire as it burned on torches hung along the walls. "I thought Titania would have a coronary before the night was over."

"You know, if she's still hanging around, you're going to get turned into a snail faster than you can blink," Nikki warned him, though she was smiling as she linked hands with him and leaned into his shoulder, her eyelids drooping with weariness. "Man, I'm stuffed…"

"Me, too," sighed Trinity. "Cat, did you get enough to eat?"

"Yeah," said Cat with a little sigh of her own, and Nikki immediately turned to her as they reached the bedrooms.

"And who was that noble sitting beside you?" the girl demanded, her brown eyes narrowing as Puck pushed open the door to Demon and Catherine's room and led them inside. There was a fire burning in the heart as it had the night before, indicated someone had already been in the room and cleaned up. There was more evidence by the beds being neatly made a fresh set of night clothes were set out for herself and Demon as well.

"Yeah, I was freaking out all through dinner because of that guy," Trinity added, turning rapidly to face Catherine, blue eyes wide as headlights. "And what was he giving you to eat?"

"Nothing bad, I swear," Catherine said, looking up at her friends with wide, jade eyes, sensing Demon's gaze burning a hole in her back as he stood by the fireplace, watching her. "He just noticed I was having trouble eating the meat and gave me some fruit instead. And some water. Just water."

"Nik told me about the water," Trinity said, eyeing her friend thoughtfully. "But that still doesn't answer who he was."

"And what was that about I wouldn't believe you if you told me?" Nikki asked, cocking an eyebrow as she folded her arms over her chest, her dress rustling slightly with the movement.

Catherine heaved a sigh, feeling a small smile come to her face as she shook her head. "You two had imaginary friends when you were little, right? Like five, maybe six years old?"

"Yeah, what kid didn't?" asked Trinity, looking bewildered. "What about it?"

"He was my imaginary friend," Catherine said, her smile widening. "Just, he's apparently not as imaginary as I first thought. When I was a little girl I used to run around the playground near my house pretending I was a princess, and I imagined a prince with white hair and blue eyes would always appear, and he would sometimes have a little boy with him named Arin. The prince was named Sonata."

Nikki's mouth fell open with an audible pop, and Trinity's eyes looked ready to bug out of her head. On the flipside of things, Puck gaped for a split second, then busted out laughing so hysterically that he actually had to crouch down to keep from falling over.

"Holy shit!" he said, gasping through his laughter. "Are you serious?! Lord Sonata was your imaginary Prince Charming from your childhood?! Holy _shit_!"

"I'm serious," said Catherine, looking at him in a slightly offended way.

"I know you are," he choked, now lying out on the floor, clutching his gut as he literally rolled around on the floor laughing maniacally. "That's what's so great! Oh! Oh, holy shit! Man, if Titania knew that—! Holy shit!"

"Puck, get a grip, it is not that funny," said Trinity, looking thoroughly exasperated.

"You don't understand," Puck said, still laughing overly loudly, though, his eyes brimming with tears of hilarity as he looked up at them with a huge grin on his face, "Titania has been wanting a consort for decades, and she wanted—still really wants—it to be Sonata! But there're a couple problems with that."

"One of them obviously being that Oberon won't permit her to have a consort," said Demon dully. "What's the other one?"

"Phoo," sighed Puck, now lying out on his back, still beaming up at Catherine. "Well, ya see…about…let's see, you were six…you're eighteen now…so about twelve years ago, Sonata had been hanging out occasionally in the human world for kicks and a bit of education on mortals, and he came back at one point a few months later and when Titania asked him to be her consort he said he couldn't because he'd sworn an oath of devotion to a princess in the human world. Of course, no one believed him really because there were no legit princesses where he was staying in the mortal world, but Titania couldn't get him to change his mind. She's been pretty bitter about it ever since."

"You're fucking kidding me," said Nikki bluntly, staring down at Puck, who shook his head, his emerald eyes glowing with laughter.

Nikki now looked up at Catherine, who was also gaping openly at Puck, and let out a loud laugh that startled her friend.

"Cat! Did you seriously make him swear an oath of devotion to you?!"

"I was six!" said Catherine defensively. "I didn't even remember it until just now!"

"So that's a yes," said Demon with a resigned sigh. "Well done, you managed to make a Summer noble swear his oath of undying devotion to a six year old human child and he's been bound to it ever since."

"Is that bad?" asked Catherine, now seriously uneasy as she considered what a bad position this put both herself and Sonata in. What if Titania found out…?

"Depends," said Puck, pushing himself up and grinning at her. "Was he mad about it?"

"He didn't even mention it," Catherine admitted.

"Then probably not," mused Demon. "I would imagine if he were upset about the oath, he would have made a point to threaten you about it once he knew who you were. He _did _find out who you are, I'm assuming."

"Yes," she murmured, eyes downcast, a small frown on her face.

"Then the chances are that he does not consider it of ill consequence," said Demon with a lame shrug, "Though I would avoid mentioning it to anyone else. If Titania were to find out that you were the reason behind one of the driving forces that left her without Sonata as her consort, I imagine she would be all the more unpleasant to you about it."

"I'd already kind of figured that," sighed Catherine, still frowning. "But…shouldn't it be null or something? I mean, I was _six _for crying out loud! He can't seriously expect that I'd hold him to a vow I made with someone I thought was imaginary when I was six years old!"

She hesitated, looking up at the others around her.

"Can he?" she asked, sounding uncertain as she glanced between Demon and Puck, figuring they would know.

"Half of me wants to say he used it as an excuse to avoid Titania," Puck said, looking caught between thoughtful and amused as he continued to lay on the ground, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, "And the other half of me says he's dead serious about it and is still bound to you. If you really want to know the answer, though, you'd have to ask Sonata directly, because he's the only one that would know the real answer."

"But he's already gone," pointed out Trinity, "And we won't see him again until Elysium."

"Then ask him at Elysium," said Puck, shrugging as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Just make sure Titania doesn't spot you getting cozy with him, or she might just throw it all out the window and turn you into a rabbit or something. She's still pretty jaded over the fact that he told her no, and especially since she figured out it was a human he made the vow with in the first place. She never figured it was a kid, though. No one did, for that matter. We all assumed he'd made some ridiculous oath with a smitten female he'd revealed himself to, though now that I've found out the truth of it, it just makes it even more hysterical that it _was _a kid."

He snorted in amusement, and Nikki gave him a look as Catherine turned her eyes back down to the floor.

"It's just so surreal," she murmured, raising a hand to massage her throbbing temples. "I mean…that was twelve years ago…It might not seem long to him, but that's over half of my life to me. And he was just this imaginary friend I had…Or I thought he was imaginary…It's like a dream coming to life."

"Welcome to Faery," said Puck with a grand gesture around the room. "Where we make your dreams come true, literally. You know, now that I sit and consider it, that's probably a one out of a million chances that you would ever have found him here. And that's after considering the one in ten thousand chance that you would have ever gotten here in the first place if not for the one in ten _million _chance of Demon taking an interest in you."

"So, basically, by all logic," said Nikki in a dull voice, "This should never have happened."

"Pretty much, yeah," said Puck with a smirk.

"Well, I'm learning not to take anything for granted here," said Trinity with a sniff, hands on her hips. "Especially the supposedly impossible stuff, because it always has a habit of becoming ludicrously possibly and then I just end up knee deep in shit trying to find a way out of the mess I've gotten myself into."

"Then you're the only smart one in the room," Puck told her with a snicker. "I just go with it. Centuries of being here have taught me to just take what comes at me and hope I don't die."

"Because that's such a great philosophy," said Nikki sarcastically.

"If you're Robin Goodfellow, it's the best philosophy you can hope for," said Demon with a roll of his eyes, then glanced at Catherine. "And as for Lord Sonata, try not to get too attached to him. He may be a relic of your past, but he is still fey. And fey have a generally nasty habit of demanding favors for the simplest things. Do not be surprised if he comes back during Elysium to request some favor or promise in exchange for the kindness he showed you tonight."

"You don't trust him," said Catherine, frowning. It wasn't a question.

"No, I cannot say I do," said Demon, casting a vague look into the glowing green flames behind him. "As I said, he is fey."

"And all fey are rotten, conniving bastards, aren't they?" asked Puck with a grimace.

"Not all of them," said Demon neutrally, "Just most of them."

"Feh," muttered Puck, rolling his emerald eyes at the ceiling just as a series of knocks came down on the door, causing them all to turn in surprise.

"Who is it?" Catherine called automatically, though the look Demon gave her suggested she should have stayed quiet and ignored the caller.

"Sorrel, my Lady," said a voice from behind the door, causing Demon's head to snap around, his eyes wide with surprise. "Might I come in?"

"Uh…" Catherine glanced around at Demon, who was already striding towards the door and yanked it open to reveal an empty doorway. Or she thought it was empty until a flame colored ball of fur came trotting in regally through the doorway, and she found herself looking down to see a ginger colored tabby approaching her, green eyes glittering.

"Good evening," Sorrel greeted her with a small inclination of his head. "I hope I am not intruding."

"No," she said, still staring at him as he sat back on his haunches and curled his tail around his paws, craning his head to look up at her. "I, uh…I didn't expect you to look like that…"

"Ah, yes," said Sorrel, a flicker of amusement crossing his gaze. "Well, this is my feeble attempt at escaping a formal dinner, as I heard you all were attendants tonight by request of Lord Oberon. I do not much care for social gatherings outside of those that are totally necessary, and why squeeze myself in among a cluster of staunch nobles when I can just as easily enjoy my supper in my room by the fire?"

"The cat has an excellent point," said Puck, looking very impressed as he glanced at Sorrel. "I think next time I'll turn myself into a mouse and just tough it on in the kitchen pantry. I really _hate _formal dinners, and this tunic is giving me a rash!"

"Then take it off and stop complaining, for Christ's sake," sighed Nikki, giving him an exasperated look. "Jeez, man."

"Aw, but I don't want to ruin your virgin eyes with my overpowering masculinity," said Puck, waggling his eyebrows at her, a smirk curling his lip.

Nikki gave him a look. "Just take it off, Puck, or I'll make you wear the dress next time and see how much better you like it."

"Alright," he laughed, already tossing away his cape and yanking the dressy emerald tunic over his head, "Alright. It's off. There, I won't complain anymore."

"Good," said Nikki, trying not to stare openly at his distinctly muscled chest, though it wasn't the first time she'd ever seen it.

"You checking me out?" Puck asked, catching her eye a split second before she could look away.

"Maybe," she said dismissively, shrugging.

"Man, she was totally checking you out," snickered Trinity, looking amused.

"It's not a crime if she was," Sorrel said idly, "And this is getting off topic. I came to speak with you all, really, and I'd rather like to have your attention on several important matters."

"Uh-oh," said Puck, grinning at Trinity, Nikki and Catherine as Sorrel leveled a severe green gaze at them all, "What did you guys do now?"

"Mind your own business, Goodfellow," Demon advised him in a bored tone from the fire place.

"I just want to know how well they've managed to outdo me as far as wreaking havoc and mayhem goes," said Puck with all the innocence of a five year old in his voice, "Is that such a horrible question?"

"No, but you're interrupting me again," said Sorrel, heaving a deep sigh and fixing Puck with a rather malevolent stare. "Now, please be quiet or kindly leave the room."

"Well, then," sniffed Puck indignantly, but fell silent as he had been requested, and Sorrel turned back to the now rather anxious females in front of him.

"So, first things first," he said in a rather pompous voice that had Nikki grinning, "Lady Trinity, I hope you will take into deep consideration just how risky it is for your lover to be sending you letters through his Queen, regardless of the fact that no wise fey would ever risk the chance of attempting to theft your correspondence."

Trinity felt her heart jolt and her sapphire eyes widened as she stared down at Sorrel, who didn't seem to notice her disbelief as he went on in his regal voice,

"However, if I cannot convince you to cease the sending and receiving of such letters between the courts, my only advice then would be that if you are to send a letter, have it brought to me addressed to the Iron Queen and I will send it with my most trusted carriers. And be sure to seal a letter of warning for your lover inside as well to inform him to be sure to send it back along a similar route so that the exchange can go as unnoticed as possible by Oberon. You were lucky that I managed to intercept the letter in the delivery room, as it was almost taken straight to him. I am afraid the brownies are not quite up to standards on checking who the letter is addressed to in addition to who it is being sent from."

"How did you even know about that?" demanded Nikki, looking just as stunned as Trinity, though not quite as pale as her friend was at the thought of Oberon nearly getting her love letter.

"I am a cat," said Sorrel simply, blinking up at her with an expression that suggested he couldn't quite believe she was so absent minded not to realize this.

"But how did you know it was a love letter?" asked Trinity in a shaky voice, gaping at him. "You didn't…you didn't somehow read it, did you?"

"Of course not," said Sorrel, looking indignant at the very thought that she would accuse him of such a thing. "I am no idle gossiper looking for the latest news. It was simply very clear to me that the Iron Queen would not send you a personal correspondence without first addressing Oberon on whatever the matter might be, not to mention the scent of the letter held inside did not match the Queen's and distinctly belonged to a male. As the scent also did not belong to the Iron Prince, I could only assume you had taken up with one of their own and decided it best to ensure the letter reached its proper place without there being uproar about it."

"Oh," said Trinity, her tone amazed and, it sounded, touched. "Well, thank you…"

She then seemed to consider something and eyed Sorrel warily.

"What do I owe you?" she asked.

"Please, my Lady," said Sorrel with a deep, almost woeful sigh, "Do you really believe I am in this business for something of merit? Gracious, you humans…"

"But," Nikki looked confused as she looked down at him, "You risked a bit to get that letter to Trinity, and you're offering to go behind Oberon's back about sending letters back and forth between her and Ter—um, between her and her guy, so why aren't you asking anything out of it?"

"Come to think of it, there is one thing I would like to ask," Sorrel mused, glancing at Trinity, who was immediately on the defensive.

"And what would it be?" she asked cautiously.

"A simple thing," he stated with an idle flick of his tail. "That you otherwise leave me out of this entire brouhaha aside from bringing me the letter to be sent. I will merely act as a courier, and nothing else. I am not to be a liaison between you and whoever you are contacting, and if Oberon approaches me I will state the truth of the matter that I was merely your means of delivery. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh, well, that's fair," said Trinity, looking relieved.

"You realize by letting him ask that," Demon said idly from the door, "He is denying all blame of anything should this get out. Basically, if Oberon somehow gets wind of this, all of the blame will fall on you."

Trinity looked a little nervous at that idea, but she also knew this was what she had signed up for when she and Tertius had agreed to send letters in the first place. Not to mention the fact that this was kind of what forbidden love constituted. Risks, danger, the ever present threat of discovery, and, to be honest, Trinity would gladly take all of it on for Tertius. So, looking down at Sorrel, she offered a rather mischievous grin.

"Deal," she told him. "I didn't get into this just to back out because Oberon might go all big and dominating on me."

"Just remember you said that if it gets out and he turns you into a cabbage," muttered Puck from the floor, rolling his eyes. "I don't want to hear any complaints if it comes down to it, and I'll just kindly remind you that you said you weren't worried in the first place and that's that."

"Then it's a good thing I don't particularly care," Trinity told him a wry smirk that he retaliated to by sticking out his tongue and making a rather rude face.

"Alright, children, settle down, I am not finished," sighed Sorrel, looking a tad exasperated as he turned then to Nikki. "Now, Lady Nicolette, as I am sure it has been on your mind since your arrival, though you might not have brought it up to anyone, I thought you might be interested in learning the whereabouts of the dryad who gave birth to you."

Nikki straightened up a little at this, her brown eyes growing very wide, and even Puck sobered as he looked swiftly between Nikki and Sorrel, his green eyes glittering with eagerness.

"My mom?" Nikki said, her throat a little dry. "What about her? Have you found her?"

"Not exactly," said Sorrel, twitching his whiskers. "As of yesterday I sent out several searchers in all five directions of the Nevernever to begin scanning the forests asking their closest dryad sources if they might have any knowledge about a Summer dryad in any of the territories that would have given birth to a half human child."

"That could take forever!" exclaimed Trinity, looking appalled.

"Not necessarily," said Demon from his place by the fire. "Not many dryads give birth at all, not physically. The share their life energy with the empty trees around them, creating more dryads, but very, very few dryads ever endure a physical birth. And if anyone of them has, the others would know about it. Dryads are close knit family fey, and they gossip like there is no end to the world. It would have been spread around very quickly if one of their own had given birth, especially to a half human child, and, believe me, that wouldn't have been a secret."

"So why doesn't anyone know who her mom is right now?" asked Catherine, bewildered. "If it's not small thing, why hasn't anyone come forward before now?"

"Because dryads may gossip," said Sorrel calmly, "But only amongst themselves. They don't betray their own for anything less than a life debt. Even Oberon isn't easily capable of weeding information out of them if they do not want to give it up."

"Which is why Oberon didn't know who my mom was," murmured Nikki, frowning. "Even if he'd gone around asking, they probably wouldn't have told him because they'd be scared of what he'd do to her."

"More of what he might do to them," Sorrel corrected her, looking a little sympathetic. "It is unlikely that many of the dryads would have completely understood and accepted that your mother took up with a human. Though they wouldn't have the same enmity for you and her that many other fey do, they wouldn't look at it as something to be celebrated or really even acknowledged. If I know anything about it, they will probably act as though it never happened until they are forced to admit it."

"So if your searchers are going around looking, but the dryads won't give up the information," said Nikki, looking very much confused now, "How do you expect them to find anything?"

"They are delivering announcements to the dryads," Sorrel explained, "Stating that at this coming Elysium the half human daughter of the dryads will be attending as a noble lady at court. That should make it more likely that some dryads—or even your mother herself—would show up to see you. As I said, dryads are awful gossips, and they would not miss a chance at something like this that could keep the leaves stirring for seasons to come. Not to mention the idea of their half blood kin being elected to a position in the Seelie Court would definitely rouse their interest if nothing else would."

"So, we're making a show out of it," said Trinity, sounding a little bitter.

"You could be grateful that he's doing it at all," Demon murmured softly. "He doesn't have to do this at all, but he is. And I suspect that he won't be asking for much in return, just as with the secrecy of your letter sending."

Trinity looked embarrassed to be scolded in such an offhand manner by the Cait Sith, but otherwise did not speak and looked away from Sorrel as Nikki fixed the orange tabby cat with a serious gaze.

"So, what would you like me to do in return?" she asked quietly when Sorrel did not elaborate on what he might wish of her in compensation for his troubles. "And please don't ask for my firstborn child."

"What interest would I have in an infant?" asked Sorrel, looking mildly repulsed at the idea. "No, I merely request that—should you manage to find your mother in all of this kerfuffle—you make a point of telling her and your sister kin that I would rather not like to hear any more complaints about myself and _my _kin disturbing their branches. We have as much right to be in the trees as anything else that can climb and I do get exceptionally weary of hearing their complaints otherwise."

Puck snorted in amusement, though he pretended innocence when Sorrel fixed him with a steely look, and Nikki nodded her head in agreement.

"Deal," she said, then added in slight warning, "Though I can't promise that they will listen to me."

"They do not need to," said Sorrel, flicking his tail. "They merely need to hear you speak. That is all I am asking. I know you have no power over your kin. Just as I have no power over mine. Merely pass on the word is all I am asking of you."

"Alright, I can do that," she said with another nod, and Sorrel finally turned to Catherine, who wasn't quite sure what to expect at this point as she faced the little orange Cait Sith at her feet.

"Lady Catherine," Sorrel addressed her, and she felt her heart stutter in anxious anticipation as he narrowed his emerald eyes at her, "As I have already become aware through various sources, you spent time in Tir Na Nog as a prisoner to Queen Mab. In two weeks at Elysium, you will be required to face her again, as well her son, Prince Rowan, who kept you imprisoned. While I have discovered through my sources just this past day, Mab has apparently called off any search to locate you, and has decided that—even if they come across you—you are no longer of consequence to them. I do not feel that you should concern yourself with her when she arrives in a fortnight. However, Prince Rowan is a different story. He still feels utterly disgraced by your escape, and though Elysium is a time held in peace—though that peace has always been rather tenuous and strained—I would keep your guard up at all times in his presence, as I am sure he will attempt to use any methods he can to get Mab to demand your arrest or, at worst, your execution for some slight he may cook up. For that reason, during Elysium it would be in your best interest never to leave Demon's side, and, if you must, always remain near to myself or Robin Goodfellow, Lady Trinity or Lady Nicolette. If, for whatever reason you become separated from any of us, be sure to avoid Prince Rowan at all costs."

"And if he comes up to her directly?" asked Trinity anxiously, for Catherine was looking very green as she listened to the words coming from Sorrel's mouth. "What if he tries to call her out as a thief or something in front of the entire court? What should she do then if she just can't get away from him?"

"Then let him rant," Sorrel said calmly. "He cannot prove anything that is not the utmost truth, and if anyone were to question her on her actions in Tir Na Nog she merely has to speak the truth. It is easy enough to sense when a human is lying if one knows the proper key signs, and I will be standing by to speak up in her defense should her credibility come into question."

"And what do you want out of this particular kindness, Sorrel?" asked Demon in a low voice, a small frown on his face as he faced his old friend and kin. "This is a hefty offer you are handing out…"

"I merely ask that you find the girl's father," Sorrel said, surprising them all. "I am a terribly curious bastard and would very much like to know which of my distant kin sired this child. If you can do that—and I am sure you eventually will before you waste away—then I will consider the debt cleared. That is all."

"Fine," sighed Demon, closing his eyes. "Consider it done. We plan on leaving Arcadia as soon as Elysium is over, since Lady Trinity's house quarantine will also be void and she will be able to come with us as Catherine wishes."

"Very good," said Sorrel, looking quite satisfied with himself as he looked around at them all with languid green eyes. "Well, now that that is officially taken care of, I will be going now. I have much to be getting done and never enough time to get it done in. Lady Trinity, if you need to find me to send your letter, merely call for me and I will come."

"Sure thing," said Trinity with a brief nod that Sorrel returned before rising to his four paws, turning around, and trotting daintily from their presence, long orange tail held high in the air as he disappeared from their sight.

"Well, that was definitely interesting," said Puck when he'd gone, bouncing to his feet and stretching, bring Nikki's eyes flickering over to his bare torso for the briefest instant before she could pull her gaze away. "I don't think I've ever seen a Cait Sith ask so little for so much, aside from you, cat."

He made the comment to Demon, who did not respond except with a small frown.

"That was definitely a lot that he's doing for us," Nikki agreed in a low voice, glancing around uncertainly at Catherine and Trinity, "And he didn't ask a lot back for it. You think it's too good to be true?"

"No," said Demon, answering before either of the girls could. "Sorrel will hold true to his word. He is a Cait Sith, and we stand by the promises we make."

"So he's trustworthy," concluded Catherine. "He's just more like you than the other Cait Sith are."

"Precisely," agreed Demon with a small nod.

"Good to know, then," said Nikki with a small sigh of relief, finally relaxing at the conviction in Demon's voice regarding Sorrel's integrity. "Well, I think I need to get out of this tent before I go nuts. It's gorgeous, but I'm done being Cinderella for the night. Time for the pumpkin to make its appearance! On to the sweatpants and t-shirt!"

And with that, she punched a fist into the air and marched from the room with purpose blazing in her eyes, and Catherine and Trinity dissolved into giggles while Puck merely rolled his eyes.

"I should change, too," Trinity sighed, glancing down at her extravagant gown with a rather weary expression. "Hopefully it won't be much worse than this for Elysium, though something in my gut tells me it'll only go further downhill from here."

"Then pray," said Catherine with a small smile, patting her friend on the arm. "You go get changed, I need to, too. Which means that you, good sirs"—she turned to Puck and Demon—"Need to step out for a minute."

"Aye, aye, ma'am!" Puck snapped to attention, saluting, then doing a very slack about face and hut-twoing it out of the room. Demon didn't budge, and merely raised a delicate silver eyebrow when Catherine turned to give him a look.

"You, too," she said, glaring at him when he still didn't move. "I need to change."

"Then change," he said idly. "I am not going to stop you."

"I don't want you watching!"

"Please," sighed Demon, looking exasperated while Puck and Trinity poked their heads back in to see what the holdup was. "Though you may find yourself hopelessly attracted to me, I can assure you that I have no current interest in your female body."

"No 'current' interest," repeated Puck, winking slyly, "Make a note of that, Cat. No _current _interest. Meaning there could easily come a time when he is totally and thoroughly interested in your body. Kick him out now, before he gets that interest."

"Both of you shut up and get out," snapped Catherine, pointing a finger at the door, very red in the face. "Before I do something you'll make me regret doing!"

"Oooh, threats," said Puck, smirking and snickering, even as he obediently retreated from the room. "Come on, cat-man, before you upset her ladyship into taking what little manhood you have left and throwing it down a drain."

Demon sighed and rolled his yellow-green eyes at the ceiling, clearly exasperated with the whole thing, but finally pushed himself off of the mantle to follow Puck slowly from the room. Trinity shared a look with Catherine, rolled her eyes, and slammed the door behind her on her way out after the two males, leaving Catherine to herself to change.

"Jeez," she muttered, hurriedly undoing the buttons she could reach on her dress and shrugging out of it, reaching for the flowing spider silk nightgown—this time in a startling shade of yellow—that lay out for her and yanking it on over her head the minute she was out of the dress. "Freaking men…"

She settled the nightgown comfortably over her skin, relieved to see the neckline had mercifully been raised and no longer made her feel like she might have some kind of horrid wardrobe malfunction in her sleep, pushed her fingers through her flyaway copper hair, and marched over to the door to let Demon back in.

The Cait Sith was waiting just outside, leaning idly against the wall. Trinity and Puck were nowhere to be seen, and Catherine guessed they'd gone to their rooms to change as well.

"You can come in now," she told Demon, stepping back from the door so he could step in.

"That was totally unnecessary," he muttered, sounding disgruntled as he marched to his bed, yanking his black tunic top off over his head and throwing it down on the trunk at the foot of his bed. "Really…"

"Well, I like my privacy, sorry to make it such a problem for you," Catherine told him in a cool voice, folding her arms over her chest and giving him a rather dark look. "Too bad I can't walk around totally naked in good comfort like you seem to enjoy doing."

Demon didn't say anything, merely casting a look over his shoulder at her that suggested he had quite a few things he would really like to say, then turned away again and shocked her by marching over to her bed and throwing himself down on the foot of it with a very tired sigh.

"And what are you doing?" she demanded, striding over and giving him a push. "That's my bed!"

"I'm aware," he said dryly, curling up on his side and ignoring her insistent shoves at his back. "I believe we discussed this earlier in the day."

"Yeah, we did, and we said you _ask _before you went hopping in bed with me," Catherine told him heatedly, glaring down at him just as a light rap on the door notified her to her friends' return.

"Don't tell me," said Nikki's weary voice as the girl poked her head inside, her long brown hair yanked back in a ponytail that nonetheless hung to her shoulder blades as she stepped into the room, dressed in a pair of baggy brown sweatpants and a large green t-shirt that made her look half her normal size as it hung to her knees. "He's being an ass about the whole bed thing again, isn't he?"

"No, I am not," said Demon staunchly, still curled up on his side, though he reached out with one hand to practically paw at Catherine's hand as she stood just within reach at the side of the bed, trying to pull her closer, "I am merely lying here and she is making things overly difficult."

"Why are you pawing at my hand?" Catherine demanded, yanking her hand back and staring at him.

"Because I am cold," he sighed as though it explained everything.

"Cover up with a blanket," she snapped. "Or put more clothes on. I am not going to be your personal heat cushion."

"I certainly seem to recall serving as yours for the past few weeks," observed Demon calmly, reaching out again and trying to paw at her arm so she had to step back to avoid him, "Do I not get any kind of reimbursement paid in similar terms?"

"Oh, so it comes out!" said Catherine with a short, humorless laugh. "You want me to pay you back a favor for a favor and share body heat with you because as a cat you curled up and shared yours with me. Jeez, you're really something, you know that?"

"He's at least worked out a logical explanation for it," said Trinity with a shrug as she also reappeared, dressed in a similar nightgown to Catherine's, except hers was a dazzling lime green color, "Gotta give him credit for something."

"Tch," snorted Catherine, unconvinced, still glaring at Demon as he let his hand hang uselessly over the edge of the bed and he lifted his head to fix her with an almost reproachful look. "Don't even give me that look, Demon. You are not a kitten and I am not falling for it."

"That's a face not even a mother could love," joked Puck, prancing into the room in his brown leather pants, having discarded with his boots, and with a rather incredible feat of acrobatics had launched himself into the air, somersaulted and landed with a dull thud on Demon's otherwise empty bed, flat out on his back, and a huge grin on his face as Demon gave him a withering look from across the spaces between the beds.

"Cat, he's just going to keep hassling you," sighed Nikki, walking up and patting her friend on the back. "Just let him have the end of the bed and slap him if he gets too clingy."

Catherine looked like she would rather argue the point, but she also knew Nikki was right. Demon might be nice as far as Cait Siths went, but he was still a spoiled little brat of a cat, even as a human man.

"Fine," she sighed, finally caving, and tried not to notice how Demon smirked triumphantly at her words. "But if I wake up tomorrow in the same situation I did this morning, you're gone."

"Of course," the Cait Sith almost purred, looking very pleased as he curled up even more snuggly on the bed.

"Yeesh," muttered Catherine, looking drawn as she turned to Nikki and Trinity, who seemed to be trying not to laugh. "Really, is it too much to ask for a break around here?"

"In Arcadia, oh yeah," said Trinity with a smirk, then yawned hugely. "Well, I'm going to bed. I imagine there'll be more to do tomorrow, and I need to be in court again, so I need whatever rest I can get. You two should get to sleep, too. I don't know what you'll do, but if we get invited to another dinner tomorrow we'll want to make sure we spent as much time resting as possible before we have another face off with her royal bitchness."

"Here here," said Nikki in bitter agreement, grimacing. "Hopefully Oberon has had enough of us at his dinner table, though. I know Titania has."

"What will we even do tomorrow?" Catherine wondered aloud as she sank onto the bed beside Demon, who cracked open one tired yellow-green eye before closing it and edging just the tiniest bit closer until his head nudged her hand. She glanced down at him, eyebrows shooting up, but he didn't open his eyes to return her glance, and she sighed as she let her fingers rest lightly on top of his silvery haired head, noting how much like his fur the hair felt between her fingers so she started absentmindedly petting it.

"Eh, who knows?" said Puck, shrugging from his vantage point on the bed. "Maybe a little bit of this, a little of that, and _definitely _some of that."

"Whatever 'that' ends up being," said Nikki with a small smirk thrown in the faery's directions, her brown eyes alight with laughter. "And I hope you don't plan on sleeping there, Goodfellow, you have your bed to get back to."

"But it's so lonely in my bed," Puck complained, rolling onto his stomach and pouting at her, his emerald eyes woe begotten as he stared imploringly into her skeptical brown eyes. "Can't you spend the night with me just once?"

"And have Oberon blow a gasket because he found me in bed with his jester?" asked Nikki, sounding caught between amusement and disbelief. "I think I'll pass."

"What if he found me in bed with you?" Puck asked, cocking an eyebrow. "That'd be different, wouldn't it?"

"And just how would you go about constituting that difference?" Trinity asked, smirking at him, arms folded across her chest.

"Obviously, I'd spend the night in _her _bed," said Puck easily. "Then Oberon would have to say she was merely a victim of my overwhelming potency and seduction and let it slide."

"Yeah, I think you can stay in your own bed tonight, sir," Nikki told him with a snort of laughter, leaning forward to pat his head as though he were a toddler.

"But Nikkiiiii," whined Puck, trying to grasp at her hand as she pulled it away.

"No buts, Robin Goodfellow," Nikki told him in a mock severe voice, putting her hands on her hips and smirking at him. "Now, get out of that bed and get to your own. We can talk about this more in the morning and I will continue to prove how right I am that Oberon would maim you in many not-so-nice ways if you ended up in some girl's bed in the middle of the night."

"Feh," muttered Puck, though he didn't look quite as put out as he might want to as he rolled reluctantly out of the bed and sauntered after Nikki and Trinity as the two girls made to leave the room.

"Goodnight, Cat," Nikki called over her shoulder.

"Night, Nik," Catherine called back, sliding beneath the coverlets of her bed, minding where Demon lay. "Night, Tri."

"Night, Cat," Trinity said with a soft smile. "Sleep well."

Ah, sleep. Catherine felt a jolt in her gut as the door closed behind her friends, and was immediately frowning down at the blankets over her lap as she realized she couldn't sleep. She wasn't even a little tired… Damn…

"Nightstand," Demon sighed then.

"Sorry?" she said, turning to him, looking bemused.

"Nightstand," he repeated patiently, opening his eyes to look pointedly at the small wooden table set next to her bed. "In the top drawer…"

She blinked at him, then at the wooden stand, which had a single draw with a shining golden knob on the front, then hesitantly leaned forward to close her hand around the knob and tug the drawer out. Inside the shallow space lay a crystal vial filled to the brim with midnight blue potion.

"When did you get that in here?" she asked, staring down at the nightshade potion.

"Never you mind," he murmured, closing his eyes again. "Just drink it and get to sleep. There will be more there tomorrow night for the same purpose until we manage to get out of here or you manage to get to sleep without it some night in the next couple of weeks."

She felt the first suggestion he'd made was the more likely to happen, but didn't voice her opinion on that as she lifted the little vial from the drawer and pulled out the stopper, hesitating only for a split second before knocking it back and welcoming the familiar deadening effects of the nightshade as it slid down her throat, leaving a thick, lingering sweetness behind.

She placed the vial back in the drawer and pushed it shut as her eyelids grew heavy, and dropped her head to the pillow with a sigh, snuggling into the warmth of her coverlets and feeling Demon's head nudge her hand again as it fell to the quilt. Gently tunneling her fingers in his hair, hearing him give a small sigh of contentment, she lay there in the quiet and dimly lit room for a while, letting the nightshade work its way through her system, reflecting on all that had happened in just the past few hours.

She had pissed off a Faery Queen, not so good. But she had also discovered a man that she had believed to be imaginary for the past twelve years was actually a living, breathing fey here in the Seelie Court, and he remembered her, and she would see him again at Elysium. The thought made her unbelievably happy, but she also felt slightly hollow inside as she thought of her prince, who wasn't really a prince at all, just a very well off nobleman in Oberon's court. She wasn't sure why she felt such a hollowness in her heart…maybe it was because she worried that after so many years her 'Prince Charming' wouldn't quite have the same interest in her—if he'd had interest at all—compared to when she had been a child. She wondered vaguely what would happen when they met again at Elysium…before her mind drifted to the earlier conversation with Sorrel, and how he had warned her to stay clear of a certain someone else who would be attending Elysium.

Prince Rowan…the sadistic prince who had kept her trapped in Tir Na Nog, albeit for only two days, and was still burning with rage over the fact that she had somehow, someway, managed to escape from him and his mother. Mab didn't care about finding her anymore, and Catherine hoped it would stay that way, even when Mab saw her in a couple of weeks, but she felt that Rowan, as Sorrel had said, would not be so soon to forgive and forget like his mother. She only hoped that whatever anger he had pent up over nearly the past month that she had managed to evade him wouldn't manage to find an outlet during Elysium that cost her anything too dear. Like her freedom and her life.

She felt even sleepier now, and the bed felt so soft beneath her head, but she didn't quite drift off just yet, as something else floated to the forefront of her mind, making her stomach turn over uncomfortably, and her heart clenched in her chest.

Realizing that Rowan would be there, along with his mother, the Queen of Air and Darkness, had reminded Catherine of yet another person she should work to avoid in the time that the festivities were to take place, though she didn't know how much harder or easier it would be to avoid _him _than his vindictive younger brother. And now, with Demon, Trinity, Nikki and even Puck a little more wise about the connection between Sage and her change of personality—though they still had no solid idea of what had happened—would be sure to notice if something set her off while she was in the eldest Winter Prince's company. Nikki might not have any real evidence as to what Sage had done to Catherine, but that wouldn't stop her from getting up in his face if she thought he was hurting Catherine during Elysium. And Trinity would be the same, and Trinity had friends in high places that—despite Sage's royal birthright—could make his life very unpleasant during the hours that he would be required to linger in the Seelie Court. Puck was a worry all his own. He was the epitome of pranks and vengeful malice, and with him backing Nikki, and Nikki backing Catherine on anything that went down, things were sure to get very unpleasant very quickly if Catherine couldn't manage to keep herself together in front of Sage.

She didn't like to think about what could happen during Elysium, and felt slightly grateful as the nightshade finally seemed to drag her all the way down, making it impossible for her to consider the things that could happen in the next two weeks during the peace time between Winter, Summer and Iron. The last thing she considered with some form of relief was that she had two weeks. Two weeks to prep herself for the very worst case scenario, and two weeks to build up her defenses…she only hoped it would be enough…


	19. Chapter 19

Needless to say, the next two weeks were long, grueling, and when they weren't spending their time trying to stay clear of Titania or any other nobles that happened to sided with the Faery Queen, Nikki, Trinity, Catherine, Puck and Demon generally spent their free time either out in the courtyard in the sun or in one of their bedrooms, totally and thoroughly bored. With Trinity still on firm house arrest until Elysium, and Oberon not giving any indication that he was planning on lifting the curse on Demon anytime soon, they really had nothing else to do except the same routine, day after day. Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, walk around, hang out and talk about something or another—though their topics got very repetitive as the first week crept by at a snail's pace, and by the beginning of the second week they had totally exhausted any and all forms of conversation—and then for dinner they would get very well dressed up and spend the evening with Oberon and the other nobles, as seemed to be commonplace to make sure they weren't getting into anything they oughtn't. Though, after the first night, and without seeing Sonata again at any of the dinners following, Catherine found she didn't enjoy the evenings anywhere near as much unless she and the others were able to make an early escape and dismiss themselves to take a hot bath.

Also, though Catherine tried for two nights in a row to go without the nightshade that Demon continued to mysteriously sneak into the drawer of her nightstand, she found that she had absolutely no hopes of getting rest without the little vials, and was becoming increasingly worried for her own sake, having remembered Demon's words that nightshade could easily become addictive, as well as guilty at the fact that she was hiding from Nikki and Trinity that she couldn't sleep without the potion. But considering the fact she was still keeping a tight lid on the issue with Sage with Elysium only three days to go, she didn't want to really add to the growing list of worries she could throw at them in just 72 hours. So she passed the long second week in as much silence as she had the first one, glad, at least, that her friends had finally taken her at her words and weren't bringing up the issue any further, though once or twice every few days she would catch either Nikki or Trinity—sometimes both—giving her concerned looks from out of the corner of her their eyes. They would smile guiltily when she caught them at it, and she would merely smile back and hug them, though that was her own little repentance for continuing to keep them in the dark when she should have been able to trust them.

And she had one other growing concern on her list, right up there with nightshade addiction and secret keeping from her friends. And that was the increasing number of dreams she was having over and over of Sage, though they were progressing slowly from dreams to utter nightmares. At first they had been easy enough to wake up from without any worries to go with them, merely dreams of her walking endlessly through the snow that wasn't cold towards the shadowy figure of the Winter Prince as he stood just at the edge of her vision, blurred by the torrent of ice and snow around her, though she could always make out his frost green eyes peering at her through the darkness. But as the days had gone on, she found more and more that she was having trouble with them. Not merely just waking up from them, but also distinguishing them from reality once she had woken up. She remembered one nightmare so vivid that she had woken up screaming, and Demon had had to hold her practically for the rest of the night while she cried and refused to go back to sleep. She'd been lucky to avoid waking Nikki and the others with it, knowing they wouldn't have let it rest after that, and she was grateful that Demon had not spoken of it to either of her friends, and she hadn't even asked him to keep quiet.

She could still remember the nightmare, though, and doubted she would forget for a long time, though she was doing her best at every opportunity to let it slide further into the empty space of forgotten things. It had been a terrible dream, where the ice that she normally could stride through endlessly without feeling it had burned her skin to the point that when she had looked down where the ice continued to slash at her, it was to see her skin bloodied and raw. She had looked up, gasping in pain, feeling the frost creeping into her lungs, cutting off her air as she went to her knees in the barren wasteland that was Winter, and, as always, watching her from the shadows, Sage had stood in silence, his icy green eyes as cold and empty as the lands around her.

She had screamed out for him, pleading for his help, and she had felt a jolt of relief to see him move, finally taking the few steps out of the shadows towards her, letting her see his face. His fair skin had almost matched the snow as he strode towards her, and the silky black hair that had not shifted despite the furious wind that howled around him, tugging at his cape as he moved silently through the snow, drawing nearer to her. She remembered tears in her eyes as he had stopped, standing just over her, his face impassive as he looked down at her, and she had whispered a plea for him to save her, as he had before, promising him anything he asked of her. He had continued to watch her for a long moment, not speaking or moving, and then he had smiled. The smile had all the bitter chill of ice in it, and she had felt her blood run cold at the sight of it as he looked down at her, his eyes blank and emotionless as he had pulled his sword from his sheath and raised it over his head. She remembered his whisper that somehow had managed to carry over the incessant howling of the wind around them as he had swung the blade down towards her neck.

"Die…"

She had felt the bite of the blade in her neck, ice cold and searing, and had woken with a scream, tears streaming down her face as she had thrashed against her attacker, who had turned out to be Demon as he held her hands back from clawing at him. When she had finally gone limp, gasping for breath and blind with tears, Demon had merely sat there and looked at her, his expression completely unfathomable, before he drew her into his arms and let her sob against his chest. She had refused to sleep the rest of the night after that, and was lucky that her dream had been so late in coming, as the sun had just been coming up over the horizon when she had woken, so she did not lose quite as much sleep as she might have otherwise.

Demon had doubled up her nightshade dosage after that, not wishing for a repeat of that night, but had not mentioned it at all since then, and that had been three days ago. Instead, he had taken the time in between then and now to train her, as he had promised he would, as to how she should work her glamour. Puck of course had been present, and Nikki and Trinity as well to watch the proceedings. At first, she had been horrible at it. Demon had been instructing her to vanish completely—which he had explained was not the same as evaporating into thin air, as vanishing merely meant you were invisible, but still quite there—and she had been standing in the middle of the courtyard, feeling very foolish as she felt the watchful eyes of a few curious bystanders, when she had finally managed to make her hand disappear. Of course, that hadn't been good enough for Demon, despite the fact she felt like she wanted to keel over with exhaustion already just from how hard she had been concentrating.

"Again," he had barked when she heaved a sigh of pure fatigue.

"Demon," she snapped, lifting her eyes to glare at him, "Give me a break! I've been doing this for the past five hours, and just got my hand to disappear! And you haven't really been helping me, either! You know, I know what I am supposed to be doing, so maybe you could stop telling me to do it and start giving me some hints on _how _to do it!"

Demon had looked rather taken aback by her less than gracious retort, and she had half expected him to walk off, offended, but he had surprised her by taking a deep breath, sighing, and walking over to her, reaching out to take her hand in his, and holding it in front of her face.

"Picture your glamour," he had told her quietly, still holding her hand in front of her, his own hand firmly shackling her wrist, "Imagine it as a flowing system in your body, like your veins and your nerves. It exists inside you, as well as around you. But for now focus on the glamour inside of you. Picture it."

She had given him a look, and he had merely looked back at her, waiting. Taking a breath, feeling just as foolish as she had a few minutes ago, she had closed her eyes and allowed her mind to envision her body, and the way the stream of glamour might flow through her, like the arteries that circulated blood through her veins, except instead of fluid she imagined a stream of pure light, and her brow furrowed as she felt an answering thrum inside of her chest.

"Now," Demon had murmured, gently releasing her hand, "Focus that glamour, make it spread to fill you, instead of just outlining you. Imagine it as a cloak, and you're wrapping it around you like a cocoon."

Again, she had done as he had said, feeling that strange thrumming in her chest as she did so growing stronger and louder in her ears as she pictured the flowing lights inside of her stretched to the outside of her body, covering her like a skintight suit, and had heard Demon give a murmur of approval, so she had had to open her eyes, and felt a shock to see that—not only could she no longer see her hand—she could not see her arm, or any part of her body. She was tempted to find a mirror and see if she could see her eyes as well, but judging by the way Demon had been narrowing his own gaze, looking uncertainly around her whole face, she had surmised that her jade eyes had also disappeared from sight.

"Excellent," he had said when she'd let the glamour fade back into its original glowing outline, and she had beamed. Up until he had said, "Now, let's try evaporating."

Two days later and she could both vanish and evaporate completely, though she could only stay invisible for short periods of time and the farthest she had managed to evaporate herself away was only thirty feet from where she'd started. Still, Demon had felt it a significant achievement for her, considering she was "just a half blood", but she was willing to take the credit he gave out, since praise wasn't often part of his daily hand out.

Now, lying flat on her back, staring silently up at the dark ceiling above her, barely aware of the sunlight creeping in her through her window, she breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that today it ended. Tonight, Elysium took place. The two weeks were finally over…

Now, she just had to survive the day. Easy…She hoped…

Heaving another sigh, realizing she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep now that she was awake, she put her hands down on either side of her and levered herself up until she was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, rubbing tiredly at her sleep clouded jade eyes.

"What are you doing?" sighed a sleepy voice from her right, and she lowered her hands to peer tiredly at Demon, who was curled tightly on his side, half of the pillow over his face, his silvery hair fanned out in a small halo around his head, and one foot dangling off the edge of the bed.

"I'm done sleeping," she mumbled, reaching out to gently muss his silvery hair, causing him to grumble. "Elysium is today…"

"Don't remind me," he grunted, shifting slightly and yanking the pillow more fully over his head. "Today is going to be total and utter hell…"

"You really think so?" she asked in mild amusement, still petting his silver tresses so he sighed and muttered incoherently. "Demon, come on, after today we can leave. We've been waiting for this for two weeks."

"Doesn't mean I've been eagerly awaiting it," the Cait Sith grumbled sleepily. "Mark my words…Titania is going to act like she has a ten foot pole up her hind end, Oberon will barking so many orders that your ears will bleed, and Lady Weaver is going to be a nervous wreck by the time the day is out. You should finally get to meet her today, as a matter of fact. Believe me, she's not a pleasant woman."

Ah, Lady Weaver, the mystery woman that Catherine had never actually seen, but apparently was the one responsible for all the lovely formal wear she now had hanging up in the wardrobe she'd discovered hidden in one of the walls of the room. Nikki had told her that Lady Weaver didn't really care either way about half bloods in the court, but not to say anything rude about the clothing that she made, or it might be the last thing she did. The elderly fey could apparently take any insult under the sun, unless it was directed at her clothing making abilities.

"Well, either way, Demon," sighed Catherine, smiling drowsily down at the muttering Cait Sith as she continued to card her fingers through his silky hair, "After the next twelve hours, it's over."

"Twenty hours," Demon grumbled. "Twelve hours from now, Elysium will just be getting started, and then we will have to suffer through the next eight hours after that until close on midnight, and _then _it will be over."

"Quite the pessimist, aren't you?" sighed Catherine, shaking her head, rolling her eyes.

"No," mumbled Demon from under his pillow shield, "I am realistic. There is a key difference. Pessimistic would be telling you very succinctly that tonight is going to end with all of us dead on the floor at Mab's feet with Oberon declaring war on Winter. _That _would be pessimistic."

"Alright, alright," sighed Catherine, looking amused as she patted the Cait Sith's head, "I'll remember that difference. But you could at least try to see a bright side to this? After tonight we can leave Arcadia."

"That is the _only _good side, I assure you," he muttered in response, to which she rolled her jade eyes for a final time before slipping out of bed, dropping her feet to the cool stone floor and stretching her arms over her head. "Where are you going?"

"To take a bath," she said, moving around the bed as Demon finally abandoned his pillow and lifted his head to look drearily at her. "Because I get the feeling if I don't take one now, I'll regret it."

"Lady Weaver will make you take one later regardless," sighed the Cait Sith, dropping his head wearily back onto the pillow he was now hugging into his chest, letting his groggy eyes drift shut. "She aims for perfection and she always gets it."

"Another thing to keep in mind, I guess," sighed Catherine, stepping through into the adjoining bathroom and gently closing the door behind her. "And don't come in here while I'm bathing or I will throw the wash bowl at your head!"

"Your aim is dreadful, I am not concerned," Demon called back to her.

"Demon," she said in a threatening tone, even as she slipped out of her nightgown and touched her palm to the stone headed dragon on the side of the immense tub, causing it to spout steaming water into the basin below.

"I won't come in," sighed the Cait Sith wearily. "Take your bath and leave me in peace…"

"Yes, oh, poor abused guardian of mine," Catherine said with a slight giggle, already slipping into the mercifully warm, soothing water and letting her head fall back against the side of the tub with a sigh of contentment, "Though you should eventually take a bath, too, before the day is out!"

"Meh," grumbled Demon through the door, and Catherine smiled before closing her eyes and sinking deeper into the hot water as the fountain continued to gush, filling up the tub at a leisurely pace until she was floating with her feet barely touching the marble bottom, staring up at the arched ceiling of the bathroom overhead, which was decorated with glittering colored glass and intricate silver brambles that glistened as the sun continued to raise, inch by inch, in the sky outside.

Today was the day, she thought with a sigh, smiling. She'd been waiting for this for two weeks, and finally, once it was all over, they could go. They could start looking for her father… They might not find him for a long time, but they could at least make a start of it, just by going out and searching for Lord Wrath, whoever he was and wherever he might be. She only hoped he would see them, and that he would have some clue as to who her father was. She secretly wondered if he was really as wise and powerful and Demon kept making him out to be, but she suspected she shouldn't be questioning the Cait Sith's knowledge of his own King. If anyone would know about Wrath, it would be Demon, not to mention in the past week she had questioned Sorrel about Wrath as well and the other Cait Sith was just as convinced of Wrath's power and knowledge as Demon was, so two for two said that they probably knew what they were talking about. And all that she was left to do was trust them.

"Catherine," Demon's voice pulled her from her reverie, and she sat up quickly in the water as the bathroom door creaked open the tiniest crack, showing a glimpse of the Cait Sith's yellow-green eyes.

"Demon, what the hell?!" she exclaimed, yanking a towel from the side of the tub into the water to shield herself.

"Begging your pardon," he said in a tired, sarcastic voice, rolling his one visible eye heavenwards, "But someone of considerable power and much more important than me is here to talk to you."

"They can wait," Catherine hissed, her face flaming with color as the Cait Sith continued to look directly at her, apparently heedless of the fact that she was completely naked behind the towel she was clutching to her chest.

"Much as I'd love to tell them that, I don't think you would thank me for telling Queen Titania to wait," he told her idly, and she felt her heart go to her throat. "She's outside the door and is getting a might bit testy. If you're not out in the next three minutes, I can't promise she won't come barging in her and lecture you on whatever she might want to while you are still very much naked."

"Then get out so I can get dressed!" Catherine snapped at him, already reaching for the edge of the tub to heave herself out, though she could feel her heart beginning to pound anxiously against her ribs at the thought that Titania was standing just outside of the bedroom and growing slowly more annoyed the longer she was kept waiting. "What does she want anyway?!"

"I have no idea," admitted Demon, shrugging lamely, still standing in the door, much to her indignation. "It sounds rather important, though."

"Out!" she snapped, and with a final sigh he stepped away from the door, closing it behind him.

"Two minutes," he said.

"Jeez," she hissed, her blissful mood all but ruined as she hauled herself out of the tub, throwing aside the soaked towel and grabbing a fresh one, hurriedly toweling herself dry before grabbing at her nightgown and undergarments and slipping hastily into them just as a resounding bang from beyond the bathroom door alerted her that Titania had lost her patience being kept waiting. "This just gets better and better…!"

She hurried the bathroom door, about to pull it open when it was pushed forcefully from the other side, nearly hitting her as it slammed open, and Titania strode in, intimidating in her height and beauty as she stared down at Catherine through cold sapphire eyes, her nostrils flared, and her silver and gold hair shimmering like live flames around her.

"I do not like to be kept waiting, half breed," the Queen snapped at her, all the poison of a viper's bite in her tone as she glared menacingly down at Catherine, who did her very best not to cower or flinch under the Summer monarch's hateful stare. She just had to remind herself that she had looked Queen Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, directly in the face, and that Titania—while frightening in her own right—would never match up on the intimidation scale if she was competing with Mab. They just did not even play in the same ballpark.

And it was for that reason alone that Catherine was able to meet Titania's gaze head on as she murmured,

"I apologize, your majesty. I was doing my best to hurry when Demon told me you were waiting."

"Hmph," snorted Titania, unimpressed by her excuse, "Humans are pitiably slow no matter what they do. You hurrying is just as effective as if you were to sit uselessly around all day. However, that is not the matter I came here to discuss."

Catherine hoped that wasn't the reason the Queen was here. She didn't think criticizing her on her slowness was really a good expenditure of the Queen's energy.

"As you should be aware, though it wouldn't surprise me if it has slipped your mind," Titania said in her cold, harsh voice, "Tonight is Elysium, and my husband Lord Oberon has done you the totally unnecessary kindness of offering to be your personal escort for the night. My purpose in coming here, descending to your wretched level rather than having the servants inform you, is that I want to make it perfectly clear to you that if you should, for any reason at all, manage to insult my husband tonight, you can be very, very certain that the night will not end well for you. I will personally see it to it that you regret the moment you, a wretched, lowly half breed, dared to sully my title by way of insulting my husband, the Summer King."

Ah, so that was it, thought Catherine as Titania went onward into her rant, continuing to list the innumerable ways she would make Catherine suffer. Titania didn't want Catherine to end up disgracing her by way of insulting Oberon, though Catherine had a lurking suspicion the Queen only told her this in the hopes of unsettling her enough that by the end of the night she would have slipped up and made some kind of dreadful mistake that would land her in hot water and permit Titania to take her vengeance, and she was also suspicious of the Queen's motives. She could figure out a couple really, the first of which was the fact that Catherine had, in her mind, stolen Oberon from his Queen for the night, and the other being that Catherine had received much more attention from Sonata during the dinner to weeks previously than she felt Titania had ever gotten from the sidhe in all the time that he had spent in court.

"So," said Titania, her tone distinctly arrogant as she leered down at Catherine, "Do be sure to be a good little half breed and mind your manners tonight, won't you? I would absolutely hate to have punish you to save my husband's reputation, and I would not be so kind as he was to your little pet."

"Of course, my Lady," murmured Catherine submissively, bowing her head to the hide the anger gleaming in her jade eyes from Titania. "I would never dream of insulting you or the King."

"Of course you wouldn't," purred Titania in her deadliest voice. "And be sure that if you do, well…I am sure Mab would have a use for you better in Tir Na Nog than I could ever conceive of having one for you here."

Catherine felt a chill plunge straight into her heart with all the potency of a dagger being jammed into her chest, and caught her breath as she glanced up at Titania to see the Summer Queen smiling malevolently down at her. There was a deliberate threat in the fey woman's voice, as though she weren't just suggesting that she happily hand Catherine over to Mab if she succeeded in insulting Oberon. More like, Catherine thought, feeling her stomach turn somersaults in her gut, the Summer Faery was suggesting she had some kind of deal with Mab…though how Titania would have swung that without Oberon's notice was past her.

"Just remember that," Titania murmured, leaning suddenly close to Catherine so she could feel the Queen's sugary breath blow across her face, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Be very careful not to misstep tonight, half breed. You won't be the only one to regret it."

And with that the Faery Queen stepped back, the smile of the devil on her face, turned on her heel and swept out of the room, her heels clicking with an ominous finality across the stone floor, and a few seconds after she had vanished from Catherine's sight, the bedroom door slammed, and silence fell. Catherine felt like she was trapped in a kind of daze, staring straight ahead of her, not moving or blinking, even when Demon slowly came to stand in the doorway of the bathroom, watching her through half lidded yellow-green eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked after a very long moment of silence.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she admitted weakly.

Demon eyed her for a very long moment, and she debated whether she should actually make a grab for the nearby wash basin or not. Her stomach was still trying to decide whether it had enough contents to make for a good enough vomiting session, but after a few more minutes of deep breaths and swallowing the bile that had risen in her throat as a result of her fear, her stomach seemed to settle, though somewhat reluctantly, and she looked helplessly at Demon, who took two steps forward to put his arms around her, nuzzling the top of her head and giving a low sound that would have been a purr if he'd still been a cat.

"What did she say to you?" he asked very quietly as she rested her forehead against his bare chest, letting her eyes fall closed as she tried to get a hold of herself.

"Just threatening me, really, I don't know if that quite counts as 'saying' anything," she muttered, heaving a trembling sigh. "Telling me not to screw up tonight or she'll turn me into some kind of animal or even turn me over to Mab…"

"She threatened you with turning you over to Mab?" Demon sounded stunned, for the first time in a very long time, and Catherine leaned back to stare into his wide, yellow-green eyes.

"Yeah," she murmured, frowning. "I think she was serious, too…"

"She would have to be," murmured Demon, narrowing his eyes to mere slits now, and she felt his hands tighten on her shoulders as he stared down at her, "Though how she would expect to get away with handing you over to Mab for a minor embarrassment tonight is unreasonable and, at best, a mere fantasy on her part."

"I feel like she was telling me that she and Mab have some kind of deal," Catherine admitted to him in a low voice, feeling her heart thud harder at the very thought of it. "I don't know how they'd swing it, but she told me to remember "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" before she walked out…I don't think that was coincidence."

Demon's eyes were barely visible from how narrowed they were now. And she could practically feel the tension radiating off of the Cait Sith as he stood there, hands resting firmly on her shoulders, his entire body tensed like a taught wire, until she was afraid he might just snap. But before he reached that point he had closed his eyes and taken a deep, calming breath, and let it out very slowly.

"We need to tell Oberon," he murmured when he had opened his eyes, and Catherine felt her heart slam into her chest with all the force of a battering ram, knocking the air clean out of her lungs.

"No," she whispered, terrified, shaking her head. "Demon, no. We're already pushing our luck as it is just by being here and I'm not about to make allegations against his _wife _of all people when it's already too much when he's personally escorting me tonight to keep me safe from Mab and Rowan!"

"Then I'll tell him," said Demon stiffly. "This can't just go unnoticed."

"Demon, I said no," Catherine said, her voice trembling as she latched onto the Cait Sith's hand when he would have pulled away and walked from the room. "Just let it go. As long as I keep my head tonight and don't make any stupid moves, Titania can't do anything."

"That is not the point," said Demon, turning on her with fury blazing in his eyes, "The point is that it is entirely possible that Titania could be planning a liaison with Mab regarding you and that kind of thing is treason in all senses of the word. If Titania is getting ready to make deals with Mab on any matter, that is betraying Oberon, and he needs to hear it."

"But," Catherine started to object, but the look that Demon gave her silenced her instantly, and she recoiled slightly as the Cait Sith snatched his hand free of hers, easily breaking her weak grip around his wrist.

"Don't argue with me, Catherine, I am in no mood," he all but snarled at her. "I will bring this up with Oberon immediately and you will wait here where it is safe until I have returned, is that understood?"

She stared at him, completely taken aback by his sudden, uncharacteristic show of fury, and felt the prick of tears in her eyes as she stepped away from him.

"Fine," she said in a quavering voice.

His eyes seemed to flicker for a moment, and she thought she might have seen a hint of guilt shimmering in the yellow-green depths for the briefest second before he turned and strode from the room, uttering a low oath under his breath as he went, leaving her alone in the bathroom, listening to the sound of the bedroom door slamming for the second time that morning before silence settled ominously around her, and she was suddenly biting her lip to keep back tears. She didn't want to cry. She really had no reason to cry, but she supposed it was the mixture of shock finally settling in from Titania's threats and having Demon finally snap at her that was breaking her tenuous hold on her self-control and emotions and letting the dam flood.

Biting down hard on her tongue, she moved slowly forward to put a hand on the bathroom door, hesitating a brief moment before giving a heave and slamming it shut. It thudded loudly into place, and she choked on a little sob as she took another step forward and slammed the heavy wooden bolt into place, effectively locking herself in and everyone else out, and then stripped out of her nightgown for the second time and quickly stepping into the still hot bathwater that waited for her, sinking deeply into it, until she was totally immersed under the surface. She stayed under for a little while, just letting everything rush around her, not able to tell if there were tears on her face for the wetness of all the water around her, though from the burning of her eyes she suspected the tears were there, just not able to escape anywhere else but into the bathwater around her.

When she resurfaced, with the water streaming from her copper hair, now able to feel the few tears leaking from her jade eyes down her face, it was still that impenetrable silence, and she sniffed pathetically as she leaned back against the edge of the tub, staring down into the misty water around her, and wishing she could stop being so pathetic for once in her life. Besides, it wasn't like Demon was mad at _her_, at least not as much as he was furious with Titania and probably worried what would happen if the Summer Queen managed to convince the Winter Queen to join her in her efforts to get Catherine in very deep trouble, and maybe even killed. He wasn't trying to make life hard for her, he was trying to protect her and she should know that by now after everything he'd gone through already to keep her safe, but really she was more upset about the way he'd gotten harsh with her than anything. She didn't particularly take being snapped at very well, even if she wasn't meant to be the target of the directed anger.

Sniffing quietly, lifting her shaking hands to push back the now sopping wet fall of her hair, she wished she could have just stayed in bed… The day had started out with such promise, and she had been looking forward to the fact that only a few more hours and she would be free from Arcadia, and she could be on her way to finding her father. Now, she wasn't even remotely excited about the next few hours going by. She'd rather just stay in bed and let the whole thing fly by her without her having to take any active participation in it. But, of course, life was cruel and she was going to have to be there anyway…

Only now, rather than just having to survive Rowan, Mab and a possible encounter with Sage, she also had to be very, very sure not to piss of Titania and risk whatever the Faery Queen might find joy in taking from her. Yeah, this day was going to be just great, she thought bitterly, wiping at her tearing eyes and sinking very low in the tub again. Why had she even woken up letting herself think something that stupid?

A sharp rapping on the door had her turning in alarm, her jade eyes widening at the thought of Titania returning for whatever reason for another round of verbal degradation, but then a voice from behind the door spoke quietly, and she felt her stomach jolt in recognition.

"My Lady? Is everything all right?"

_Sonata…_

"F-fine," Catherine stammered out, feeling her heart stutter as she stared at the door, then remembered her current situation and blushed as she glanced down at herself then back at the door. "Uh…"

"Your guardian sent me to check on you," Sonata said through the door, as though explaining, which she was glad for as she really had no solid idea why he was there. "He said he had upset you and you were probably in need of some reassurance, though he completely failed to mention the fact you were bathing."

"Ah, yeah," she said, feeling her face heat up with embarrassment, even as she reached across the edge of the tub for the second towel of the day. "Just, um…give me a moment…"

"Of course, my Lady, I will wait outside of the bedroom."

She didn't hear him leave, though considering she hadn't heard him approach in the first place she wondered if that was just a thing of his; total silence. Vaguely, she tried to remember if, as a child, she had ever managed to hear him walking, but couldn't recall and brushed it aside as she got out of the bathtub—again—and quickly toweled herself off before slipping into her nightgown. She felt a little self-conscious as she peered out of the bathroom door, just to be sure that he had done as he had said and was indeed waiting outside the bedroom for her, and when she discovered the bedroom beyond completely deserted felt a little more relieved.

She paused halfway to the door, contemplating whether it would be at all appropriate to meet Sonata while she was still in her nightgown, then, deciding she'd rather not take the chance, walked briskly over to the wardrobe containing her other dresses and day clothes, and quickly pulled a sky blue day dress from one of the hangers and quickly traded it for her nightgown, feeling much better about herself, though her hair was still soaked through and she couldn't really do much about that other than briefly pull a brush through it and hope for the best as she walked towards the bedroom door, feeling her heart beginning to lighten as she finally reached it and laid her hand on the handle. She hesitated for a split second to take a breath, then pulled the door open, and felt a smile light up her entire face as she was met with the electric blue stare of Sonata as the Summer sidhe lounged casually just beyond the door, dressed in a collection of his court finest. A long, flowing white cape hung from his shoulders, nearly touching the floor, and beneath it she could see he wore matching white slacks and an elaborately decorated tunic that matched his eyes, which warmed as he smiled down at her.

"Hi," she said, a little breathlessly, feeling very plain in comparison to him, and trying not to be too aware of her hair seeping moisture down her back.

"Good morning," he greeted her gently, his eyes giving a quick once-over that hinted at concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said, nodding slightly, "Just…A lot has happened already and I've only been up for maybe half an hour."

"Ah," Sonata murmured, looking sympathetic, "That is to be expected, though, on such a grand day as this. Though I hope nothing too troubling has occurred since you've risen. Your guardian also failed to mention just what had happened that he might have done to upset you."

"He just got angry for a minute, but not at me," she said, her cheeks darkening when Sonata looked alarmed, "Queen Titania paid me a visit first thing this morning and…well, he wasn't very happy about it after she left."

"Is that so?" he asked, frowning in bemusement. "I hope her highness didn't say anything untoward."

"I do, too," said a voice suddenly, startling Catherine, though Sonata merely looked around in surprise, "Because I don't want to hear that this early in the morning someone is already giving you hell, Cat. Today is just not the day for it."

Trinity was standing in her doorway, adorned in a simple, lilac day dress with her blond hair drawn back into a loose knot on the top of her head, and her hands were firmly on her hips as she narrowed her sapphire eyes at Catherine.

"Morning, Tri," Catherine greeted her friend, a little nervously as Trinity strode right for her, her expression set.

"Morning," said Tri with a small smirk as she drew level with Sonata and her friend, "Now, answer the question that you so neatly avoided. Was Titania rude to your not?"

"Uh…" Catherine didn't like this conversation at all, especially not with both Sonata and Trinity looking down at her like her answer might just decide the fate of the galaxy, "Define 'rude'?"

"Great," muttered Trinity, looking thoroughly annoyed, "Just great. I figured she'd be bitchy today, considering the day it is, but this early in the morning?! Really?! And why at you?"

"I don't know," mumbled Catherine, shrugging, though that wasn't entirely true. She had half a mind as to why Titania would choose her as a vulnerable target in place of Nikki or Trinity, but she wasn't about to voice those opinions aloud when she really didn't have any solid convictions of her own outside of the very clear fact that Titania had made it a point that if she screwed up while Oberon was escorting her, things would get ugly in faster than the Queen could snap her fingers.

"Well, I'll talk to her about it," sighed Trinity, shaking her head in disgust.

"No need for that," said Catherine immediately, and a note of sarcasm colored her tone in spite of her anxiety, "Demon already went to do that the minute she was gone. Actually, he want to talk to Oberon, but that's eventually going to come full circle. I wouldn't ask you to go doing the same, so let's just drop it."

"There's a key difference between myself and Demon, hon," said Trinity with a wry smile. "I have authority. Demon, unfortunately, does not. And Oberon likes me better anyway."

"All that aside, I think Oberon will have gotten the point, Tri," Catherine sang lightly, feeling both annoyed and weary, "We don't need to go nagging him about his wife when he's got other things to worry about. Like the fact that today is Elysium and he has a few hours left before he has to welcome his worst enemies into his own home."

"It will not be so terrible," Sonata said gently as she felt herself growing a little hysterical, and she started when his hand came gently down on her shoulder.

Looking up, she met his startlingly blue gaze, and he smiled his small smile at her, making her heart beat a little faster.

"Lord Oberon might not enjoy Elysium," Sonata murmured in his soft voice, "But he is very well prepared for it. He has been holding it for many centuries and this will not be the last time, either. Do not worry so."

"Force of habit," she said meekly, "I'm a worrier."

"It's true," Trinity confirmed when Sonata raised a white eyebrow. "It's in her nature to worry. Especially since I figure whatever Titania had to say to you this morning wasn't good advice on how to behave tonight so much as it was telling you not to screw up."

"Sometimes, I feel like you know too much," Catherine confided in her friend just as the door to Nikki's room creaked open, and the sleepy eyed brunette's face appeared in the doorway.

"What does Tri know too much about?" Nikki yawned, throwing the door wider and stepping out into the hallway, only stopping when she saw Sonata standing there, her brown eyes growing very big.

"Too much," Catherine said with a small smile.

"Uh-huh," said Nikki, still staring at Sonata like she wasn't quite sure if he was really there or if she was just seeing things. "Uh…who are you again?" she asked him, cocking an eyebrow.

"Forgive me," he said, turning to her and offering a polite smile and a bow, "My name is Sonata. I briefly saw you one night a couple of weeks ago during the formal dinner held by Lord Oberon."

His gaze flickered with amusement as he straightened to look Nikki in her startled brown eyes and he added, "You didn't quite trust me, if I remember. You thought I might be attempting to poison your friend Catherine."

Nikki's looked immediately at Catherine, then back at Sonata, then at Trinity, then back at Sonata, still frozen in place just outside of her door.

"Well," she said, looking a little embarrassed and scuffing the stone floor with her toes, "It's uh…it's nice to see you again. And I'm sorry for then, I just…well, I didn't really have a reason to trust you back then. But Cat told us that she knew you, so I guess it's alright now."

"She guesses," Trinity muttered in an aside to Catherine, who smirked. "She _guesses _it's okay that he's here and all that."

"I can hear you, you know," Nikki said, giving both of her friends a rather indignant look. "And, for the record, I never actually got to talk to him, so until such a time as I decide he's worth trusting, I will stick to my opinions, thanks very much."

"A wise decision," Sonata told her, to which she blinked in astonishment at him. "You can never trust people based on the words of others, though I hope that does not mean that you do not trust Catherine."

"Of course I trust Catherine," Nikki said immediately, startled. "I just don't trust…you…yet."

She said it rather lamely, and felt a tad embarrassed for how clumsily the words had come out, but she also knew she could have done much worse. And Sonata didn't look too offended by her words either, so she figured it was all in good understanding that she wasn't trying to make it out he was some kind of villain behind the scenes.

"I hope you will come to trust me in due time, then, my Lady," the fey said, offering another bow and smiling gently at her, then turned to Catherine before Nikki could really come up with anything else to say. "Also, my Lady Catherine, I had hoped that perhaps tonight I might be your escort, though I have already heard that my Lord Oberon is to be the one to take such responsibilities."

"Oh, yeah," murmured Catherine, feeling a small twinge of guilt as she looked up into his face, though he did not look quite as disappointed or upset as she might have thought he would. "I'm sorry…it's…hard to explain why, just…"

"He is protecting you," said Sonata, blinking down at her through his electric blue eyes, "I am aware of this. Though I am not one to listen to the idle gossip of the other courtiers, it is no secret that there is concern that Queen Mab might wish you harm as you managed to escape from Tir Na Nog only a short month or so ago. It is for that reason that my Lord Oberon is offering to be your escort, and, I imagine, why Queen Titania is taking such an ill temper towards you, though that is no surprise at all, really. She has always been exceptionally jealous of anything taking his attention from her."

He gave a rather sardonic little grin at her as she merely stared up at him, a little taken aback by the total honesty and brazenness in which he spoke.

"Not to mention she's just got it in for half bloods," Trinity piped up from behind Catherine, giving a snort of derision. "She thinks we're worse than cockroaches."

"It is an unfortunate bias, I am afraid," sighed Sonata, shaking his head so his snowy white dresses glistened in the dim light cast from the faery fire hung up around them. "Totally undeserved, but there have always been those who do not seem to comprehend that one cannot very well choose who parents them. Queen Titania especially does not take kindly to the notion, though for someone as old and wise as her one would think she'd have learned to at least acknowledge the fact by now."

"She's too set in her ways, I'm afraid," said Demon's waspish voice, and the Cait Sith appeared almost suddenly from nowhere beside Catherine, making her squeak in alarm. He leveled a yellow-green stare at Sonata as he continued, "Not to mention she currently has Oberon wrapped around her little finger, so any chance I might have had of making an audience with him regarding her behavior has become a completely moot point."

"I should have gone to talk to him," Trinity said in a resigned voice. "He listens to me."

"He wouldn't today," Demon told her, fixing her with a rather annoyed look. "He's much too absorbed making certain everything is as it should be for Elysium tonight, not to mention that Titania was complaining about how dismissive a certain Summer fey had been to her and that was taking up all the rest of his free attention."

His eyes resettled coldly on Sonata as he spoke, and Catherine felt a little twinge in her gut as she considered that Demon was holding Sonata's words to Titania—whatever they might have been—as half responsible for why he hadn't managed to hold a proper audience with Oberon to address the behavior of the Erkling's wife. Sonata also seemed to sense the enmity directed at him from the Cait Sith, though he took it with much better grace than Catherine had been ready to give him credit for, and inclined his head to Demon with an apologetic expression.

"I did not mean to complicate matters," the sidhe murmured, lifting his gaze to Demon's. "If I had known beforehand the problems that were arising between Queen Titania and Lady Catherine, I would have done my best to assist you in bringing them before Oberon. Unfortunately, I seem to have arrived a little bit on the tail end of things."

"It's not your fault," Catherine said immediately, missing the way Demon's eyes flashed warningly to her face as she stretched out a hand to gently touch Sonata's arm. "You couldn't have known. I'm surprised you're here at all right now. I thought you wouldn't come until later tonight."

"I wouldn't have," he admitted, flashing his small smile, "As it would have meant that I would be required to spend the hours before the actual event probably entertaining her majesty, the Queen. But, as Fate would have it, having seen you a fortnight ago at the dinner gave me some much needed prompting. As well as the fact that Arin wouldn't let me simply sit idly at home all day."

"Arin?" Catherine felt her heart give a jolt as her mind's eye brought her the memory of a fair skinned boy with sunshine yellow hair and dazzlingly purple eyes laughing and running circles around a tree. "Is he coming, too?"

"I am afraid not," said Sonata with a regretful sigh. "He had considered it, but he has other matters much more important to consider, though he gave me fair warning that if I did not give you his greetings and well wishes that he would flay me alive when I returned."

"Consider them received, then," said Catherine with a small laugh. "It's still so hard to believe though…I remember Arin as a little kid being my age…"

"He is much older now," Sonata informed her while a certain Cait Sith watched with narrowed yellow-green eyes just a few feet off, "Though just as problematic and spontaneous as he was twelve years ago, I can assure you. Only now he is bigger and his moments of rashness usually land him in much more trouble than they did back then."

"I can believe it," said Catherine, then paused as a small cough from Trinity caught her attention.

"I hate to break you guys up," the girl said, and looked genuinely apologetic as she met Catherine's jade stare, "Really, but we're about to have company…"

She nodded over their shoulders towards something coming at them from the far end of the hallway, and a severe clicking of heels on cobblestone had Catherine wheeling around, heart in throat, as she imagined Titania come back for round two. But it wasn't the Faery Queen who she spotted striding down the hall, dressed from head to toe in black, and walking with significant purpose. It was a very tall, rather slender looking woman, with hair almost as white as snow and hair as black as pitch that hung straight down her back. Her eyes were just as dark, and as she drew nearer Catherine felt a little tingling of unease to see the woman had no pupil and no iris to make out, just pitch black eyes that stared down at them all with great superiority as she finally drew level with them.

"Lady Weaver," Nikki said lightly, offering the woman a smile, "It's good to see you."

Catherine felt her stomach knot. So this was Lady Weaver, she thought, eyeing the spindly woman, taking in her bone-thin fingers that somehow made her think of long legged spiders. The fabled seamstress of the Seelie Court had finally made her appearance, and Catherine had to admit it was a grand one. Though the fey cloth maker didn't seem to have the same radiant beauty or power that Titania and Oberon did, her presence was distinctly intimidating, and Catherine almost couldn't meet the woman's eyes as the tall female cast her the most cursory of looks.

"So, this is the half breed cat," the woman said, giving an elegant little sniff as she cocked her head at Catherine. "Hmm…funny…I expected something much different, but you look like a plain human after all. No ears or tail to speak of."

"She unknowingly hides them, I am afraid," Demon said unexpectedly, his tone slightly amused, and he did not flinch under Lady Weaver's black gaze as the woman pinned him with a rather intense stare. "Her glamour has been under lock and key for so long in her human world that she has yet to harness the ability to show her fey nature. All in due time, though."

Catherine blinked at Demon, feeling startled by his words. She had thought working with her glamour for the past few days would have counted as harnessing her abilities, and she had been told that fey nature showed itself almost immediately after setting foot in the Nevernever—as it was very obvious it had for Nikki and Trinity, who both sported the slender fey ears and fine features of their parentage—so why was she suddenly an exception?

"Don't give me that look," Demon told her when he'd caught her staring at him. "I had thought your nature would show when we started working with your glamour, but your glamour is much more subconsciously controlled than I had first thought, so we'll work on it later. The prevalent issue is making sure you can disappear and evaporate. Ears and a tail are unimportant."

"Well, sure you say that, but I at least would have liked to know about it, Demon," she told him, giving him a hard stare while the others looked on in either amusement or surprise.

"Worry about it later," Demon sighed. "Lady Weaver is still speaking."

"You were the one who interrupted," Nikki pointed out under her breath as Catherine glared at the Cait Sith, who merely sniffed and turned his attention elsewhere as Lady Weaver suddenly reached out a bony hand to seize Catherine by the chin, turning her face around.

Very, very startled by the abruptness at which she'd been seized, and by the closeness of Lady Weaver as the woman leaned in to scrutinize her face with narrowed, black eyes, Catherine had to work very hard at not jerking back in alarm, and instead held very still until Lady Weaver seemed to be finished with her analysis and leaned back, also releasing her grip.

"Well, I will have to see what I can do for tonight," sighed the woman, shaking her head, "But I honestly can't be expected to work miracles around this place. After all, I have much more pressing matters at hand. Or has Oberon forgotten that I have to work on Lady Trinity's dress as well?"

"I'm sure he hasn't, Lady Weaver," Trinity said in a soothing voice, "He just trusts you and honors your skills enough to believe that you'll be able to work your wonders. And everything you've made for the three of us, Nikki, Catherine and I, in the past week have all been beautiful."

"Yes, they have," said Catherine immediately, remembering the dresses she still had in her wardrobe, and the one she was currently wearing. "I never got to thank you for them, since I never saw you. They're all very beautiful, and thank you so much for taking the time."

"It is a trifling matter to make day clothes," sniffed Lady Weaver, folding her thin arms over her chest. "But this is Elysium. Everything must be perfect or my reputation as Oberon's seamstress is at stake."

Ah, reputations, thought Catherine with a barely contained sigh, and as she glanced around at Nikki she found her friend sharing a similar look of exasperation to hers. Nikki grinned at her, and offered a lame shrug, as though she knew exactly what Catherine was thinking and mimicked those thoughts. Reputations were everything in the Nevernever it seemed, and apparently Elysium was just a way to make sure those reputations stayed on the up and up and didn't get thrown in the mud and trampled on. Somehow, though, she thought that if anyone should have the least concern about such a thing happening to their reputation, it should be Lady Weaver. The woman worked magic with the clothes she made, and Catherine and Nikki both seriously doubted that anyone else in the entire Nevernever could produce works anywhere near as grand and comfortable to wear as the Seelie seamstress.

"In any case," said Lady Weaver with a dramatic wave of her long-fingered hands, apparently having reached the conclusion of her rant, "I must get to work immediately if I am to have enough time to get all the other things done that I must before Elysium is to commence. I would very much like to begin with Lady Trinity's dress, as it will undoubtedly take me the longest to complete as she is to be representing the entire Seelie Court as an active participant while Oberon and Titania play nicely with Queen Mab, and we cannot have the stand-in princess of the Seelie Court walking around looking like a washed out phouka in a parachute."

"No pressure or anything," Trinity muttered sarcastically, to which Nikki and Catherine giggled. "Lady Weaver, if you want to work on mine, I'm happy to let you. I know you've got a lot to do today and it's better to get it out of the way quickly so you don't have to stress about so much."

"I would love nothing better, I assure you," Lady Weaver said with a snort of indignation, "But it is by Lord Oberon's command that I am to first complete both Lady Nicolette's and the half breed cat's dresses first so as to not end up rushing through your dress in order to finish theirs."

"Whatever you need to do," Nikki said, putting up her hands as the seamstress began to drum her long fingers agitatedly on her hip, "You know best how you work, even if Oberon is the king. Though I have one issue I'd like to bring up while you're still here, Lady Weaver."

"And what would that be?" asked the fey cloth maker, arching a black eyebrow at the girl, who met her gaze with narrowed brown eyes.

"Catherine isn't a 'half breed cat'," Nikki told the woman firmly, drawing Catherine's stunned jade eyes onto her, "Her name is Catherine. I'd really appreciate it—and so would she—if you would at least call her by that."

"Oh, of course," said Lady Weaver, looking unbothered as she glanced down at Catherine. "Whatever suits you all. Now, I must get to work. Trinity, dear, come with me at once. I must get this done before I lose a century from the stress."

"We'll leave you to it, then," said Nikki, stepping back so Lady Weaver could step past her to seize Trinity firmly by the elbow. "We'll see you in a bit, Tri."

"Yeah, a bit," snorted Trinity, even as she allowed Lady Weaver to drag her forcefully back to her room, nearly tripping over her feet as she was pulled along. "This is gonna take a while you guys. I would suggest you go get something to eat and save something for me, because I'm going to be starving when I get out of here."

"Sure thing," said Nikki, flashing her friend a grin and waving merrily. "We'll see you in five hours, then."

Trinity rolled her sapphire eyes just before she disappeared into her bedroom, Lady Weaver slamming the door forcefully behind the two of them. Nikki snickered, then turned to the congregated people before her, looking at Catherine, who had a look of total bewilderment on her face that only made Nikki snicker even more, then to Demon and Sonata, who were idly looking back at her, clearly waiting for her to speak. But something caught her attention, or, rather something that wasn't there and should be caught her attention, and she frowned as she folded her arms over her chest, looking around them for a moment.

"What's up?" Catherine asked her as she continued to scan the hall with narrowed mahogany colored eyes.

"Puck," she said shortly, finally realizing the fey was not in the hallway, and turning her attention to the closed door of his bedroom. "I'd have thought he'd get up hearing us out here in the hallway."

"Maybe he's already up," suggested Catherine, but Demon shook his head.

"Goodfellow would have been in the throne room with Oberon if he were awake," the Cait Sith said as Nikki strode over to hammer on Puck's door. "And I did not see him there. He is undoubtedly still asleep."

"Lazy ass faery," said Nikki, drumming incessantly on the door, her ear pressed to it for a sound of life from beyond. "If he doesn't answer the door in the next few seconds, I'm kicking it in and dragging him out of bed."

"Nikki," said Catherine reproachfully, but she was laughing. "Be nice! He's going to have work as hard as anyone else today for Elysium, give the guy some rest."

"He's got enough rest for the entire castle," Nikki informed her friend as she finally decided Puck was not going to answer the door and got ready to open it, her hand on the doorknob, "It is high time for him to get up, get his ass dressed, and get out—eek!"

She leapt back as the doorknob latched onto her hand, the bronze turning into fingers that circled her wrist, nearly causing her to come out of her skin with a piercing shriek as a wooden plank from the door reached out to wind around her waist. The door started laughing, and a pair of luminous emerald eyes appeared a few feet in the air, floating just a few inches above Nikki as the girl cursed loudly and swung a fist into a part of the door that had turned into a chest.

"Robin Goodfellow, don't you _ever _do that again!" she snapped at the faery as he finally materialized in his entirety, leaning with casual grace against the door with both arms now securely around Nikki's waist, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Good morning to you, too, beautiful," he chuckled, leaning forward to kiss her forehead as she continued to mutter oaths under her breath.

"You really know how to make an entrance, Goodfellow," sighed Demon, looking rather exasperated as he gave the Summer jester a look. "Though given how long you were standing there, I am surprised you didn't give yourself away sooner."

"You knew?!" shrieked Nikki, turning on the Cait Sith with a furious expression that had Catherine bursting into laughter. "I am going to _kill _you, Demon! That is not funny!"

"It could have been worse," Catherine pointed out through her laughter, lifting both hands in a very poor attempt to stifle her hysterical giggling, "Just imagine what he could have the doorknob be instead of his hand."

Nikki stared aghast at her friend for a long, long moment, then her expression twisted into total disbelief and disgust and she looked up at Puck with her dark eyes full of horror as the faery waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.

"Oh, nasty!" she said, giving a hard push into Puck's chest that did not even come close to unsettling him, and he merely laughed at her. "Don't even think about doing that to me, Robin Goodfellow, or you'll walk away with three less parts than you started with!"

"Ooh, what a mean thing to say," said Puck, feigning a look of hurt as he continued to hold her in his arms, though he couldn't stop a tiny smirk from curling the corners of his mouth as she continued to give him quite the malevolent stare. "Would you really rob me of my masculinity in such a violent manner?"

"Yeah, I would, so don't _ever _think of doing that again!" she snapped at him, jabbing a finger very firmly into his hard chest muscles.

"You realize, of course," Sonata said idly from where he stood beside Catherine, a small smile on his face, his electric blue eyes full of amusement, "That when it concerns Robin Goodfellow he will do the exact opposite of whatever you tell him to do. So by instructing him _not _to pretend to be a door again, you have almost guaranteed that he will."

"Fine," said Nikki heatedly, glaring over her shoulder at the sidhe before turning back to Puck, who was still giving her a very entertained look, "Puck, never, under any circumstance, go jump off a cliff and land on sharp pointy rocks below."

"Oh-ho," he said, laughing again with his red haired head thrown back, "Now _that _is just mean, Nik! Come on, I'm sorry I scared you by popping out of the door like a bogeyman, but I needed to have some kind of fun today before I'm forced to act all serious tonight. Don't be mad. Pleeeeease."

He nuzzled the top of her head, looking down at her with wide, imploring emerald eyes, though the huge grin on his face didn't quite match up with his expression innocent pleading. It didn't really seem to make a difference to Nikki either way, because after a mere two minutes of gazing up at the pouting faery holding her she heaved a deep sigh of surrender and dropped her head onto his chest, relishing in the warmth of his skin as she grumbled,

"Fine, I won't be mad. But don't do that again. That scared the hell out of me. I thought you'd put some kind of spell on your door to attack intruders."

"Only to huggle them to death," Puck said with a smirk, hugging her tightly and rubbing his chin slowly across the top of her silky brown hair.

"You would put a spell like that on your door," Nikki muttered with another deep sigh, lifting her arms to wrap them around his torso and pressing herself closer. "You're an idjit…"

"Ah, but, as we have discussed, I am _your _idjit, yes?" he asked, smiling down at her.

"Indeed you are, sir," she agreed, tilting her head back to smile at him.

Catherine smiled from her vantage point by Demon and Sonata, feeling a ripple of warmth fill her as Puck leaned down to kiss Nikki's forehead again. Though the two hadn't really opened up officially on anything in the past couple of weeks, they had at least settled on the fact that there would eventually be a point when they had to admit to others, if not already to themselves, that they did have something. It had taken some serious convincing on Nikki's part, since the girl was still hovering uncertainly between taking Puck seriously at times and then not knowing if he was just messing around as was his usual fix, but after a week in Arcadia, and finding out by word of mouth that Puck had gotten into trouble several times with Oberon for either being late or absent from some courtly nonsense and had ended up spending that time with her instead, and some firm prompting from Catherine and Trinity, she had finally been more certain of the commitment behind the red headed fey's words, though the real clincher had been Demon, shockingly enough. The Cait Sith had apparently gotten sick and tired of hearing the continued argument that Nikki didn't quite know if Puck was serious about his feelings for her, or if he was just slipping through a difficult phase, and while the three girls had taken the time during one of Puck's absences to discuss the issue he had sat up on the bed he had been occupying, looked straight at Nikki and had told her, point blank, "If you keep complaining about how that numbskull of a faery isn't in love with you, and I have to go and listen to him pine away about how he isn't sure how to say once and for all that he loves you or if that you really love him back, I am going to take the both of you, evaporate you to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, and leave you there until you can finally screw your heads on right and realize you're going in circles for no reason. You love him, he loves you almost past reason, now let's get on with it!" Afterwards, he had not spoken a word more on the issue.

Since then, though, Nikki and Puck had seemed to come to a mutual understanding of just how much they loved each other, even if every time Nikki tried to say the words aloud she would blush like crazy and then pretend like she wasn't, and when Puck attempted it he only ended up stammering uselessly over himself until he finally sighed and silently confirmed his feelings by kissing her gently on the cheek. They were terribly hopeless about the actual verbal conviction behind their feelings, but Catherine felt that they didn't particularly need three words to make a relationship out of what they had, and they didn't seem to, either, so that was that.

"So," said Puck then, snapping them all to attention after the lulling silence that had hung over them, "I, for one, am _starving,_ and am totally ready to go raid the dining halls. Who's with me?"

"I'll raid the common dining hall with you," laughed Nikki, grinning up at him, "But I'm not setting foot in the formal dining hall. Titania might just poison my orange juice and that'll be the end of it."

"Pah," said Puck, looking unconcerned. "Like I'd let her. Which reminds me, I need to have a word with his majesty about his lovely wife bringing up so much trouble. Catherine, m'dear"—he turned to flash a grin at the jade eyed girl—"I hope you still like me after this because we are about to head into enemy territory and make a stand."

"Why does that sound like a bad idea waiting to happen?" Catherine asked warily, giving Puck a skeptical look while the faery simply grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

"What are you planning, Goodfellow?" asked Demon in a similarly cautious voice to Catherine's, not looking at all trusting as Puck linked hands with Nikki and began sauntering down the hallway, whistling a merry tune to himself.

"Nothing good," Puck threw over his shoulder. "Now, hurry along, children, before we miss out on the goods!"

"I think I'll just stay in bed for this one," said Catherine, stepping backwards and actually reaching for the door to her bedroom, until Sonata's warm hand caught hers, and she found herself staring up into his gentle blue eyes. "Oh, please, don't make me go," she begged as he gave her arm a gentle tug and began to lead her down the hallway. "Titania will _murder _me if I show my face!"

"That is the most overdramatic statement I have ever heard," he said with a short laugh, still gently leading her along by the hand, completely oblivious to the rather menacing stare he was receiving as Demon trailed silently behind them. "You will be fine, my Lady. Neither Oberon, nor I, nor any of your very good friends would ever let you come to harm because of a jealous woman."

"You forgot that she's also a jealous _queen_," Catherine said, enunciating the word. "You know? Queen? As in the monarch kind? The kind that can easily demand my head be served to her on a platter."

"Just breathe and you will be fine," Sonata reassured her, now tucking her trembling hand into the crook of his arm and escorting quite regally down the hall.

"I'm not convinced," Nikki declared from just ahead of them, turning her head back to make a face at Catherine. "They're trying to get us killed to save themselves the trouble of dancing with us at Elysium tonight! That is what this whole mess is about! If Titania doesn't poison us, they will!"

"You really have no faith in me, do you?" Puck asked with a would-be woeful sigh as he pouted at Nikki, who turned to flash him a cheeky smile and wink.

"I do," she told him, squeezing his hand, "Just I don't trust your motives. There is a huge difference between the two."

"But my motives are totally innocent," Puck insisted. "Nothing short of saintly!"

"What bull," she snorted, rolling her dark eyes at the ceiling. "Nothing you do is 'saintly', don't even pretend."

"Pretend? Me?" Puck gave her a devious look, "_Never_."


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey, everyone. Just a little notice: I've put up two polls for all of my readers who keep up with Winter's Wrath, so check them out if you get the chance. (Yes, this is me promoting my polls…but they've been up for over a week and no one's given any answers, so here's me preaching to the choir.) …Carry on. **

Night came too quickly for Nikki's liking, and standing straight up, arms held strictly up in the air so she felt very much like a scarecrow, not speaking and scarcely breathing, she half wished it was still noontime, because she was sure that in the next few hours, if not sooner than that, she was going to regret this.

Already, she was counting the number of things that could go wrong, making a mental checklist and grimacing when Lady Weaver—who stood behind her—gave an occasional tug or prod at the material of spider silk and lace that covered her body. Nikki had been forced to endure the past hour standing at attention with her arms out as the seamstress worked on her dress, and though she would at least have liked to have some kind of mirror in front of her for a glimpse of what her gown looked like—because all she knew was that it was form fitting and a light green in color—she had no such luck. Lady Weaver had told her point blank that she wasn't going to get a single look at it until the seamstress was totally content with the outcome of it. So that had meant the past hour had been spent—at least for Nikki—staring almost numbly at the blank wall ahead of her, and trying not to complain as her arms grew more and more tired, until the point she had almost wanted to make a joke about if she wasn't careful she was going to turn into a tree right there on the dressing stool. She'd held her tongue, however, since the look on Lady Weaver's face as the bony, black clad woman continued to circle her suggested that any speech was not at all welcome unless she asked for it.

Nikki didn't particularly like the idea of turning into a fly sometime before the night was out, so she had continued to put up with the endless silence, merely waiting and trying not to sigh overly loudly as the seamstress made a few more deliberate jabs at the fabric adorning Nikki's slender frame, before finally stepping back with a small snort of approval.

"Well, it's not my best work," she said, folding her lanky arms across her chest and giving a slow up and down to take in Nikki and the dress, her head cocked to one side so her raven hair cascaded over her shoulder. "But it will have to do for the time we had, I suppose."

"Am I allowed to move now?" Nikki asked tentatively, praying she was because she felt like her arms might just burn off at her shoulders if she had to hold this stupid scarecrow position for another second.

"Yes, yes, get down," sighed Lady Weaver, waving a hand carelessly through the air as she turned on her heel and marched over to the small box she always brought with her for fittings and dressings. Nikki wasn't all sure what was in the box, she'd never had the nerve to ask, and especially not after she had been quite sure she'd seen a long, hairy leg sticking out of it at one point during one of her previous fittings with the seamstress.

Heaving a deep sigh of relief, she dropped her stiff, sore arms to her sides, rolling her shoulders and hoping in the back of her mind that she would still have the ability to use her arms later so she could both cut her food and hopefully dance. Hopefully was an unusual word for her to consider simultaneously with dancing, considering she'd never particularly cared for it in the first place as she made a habit of telling everyone she knew that she had two left feet, despite Catherine's and Trinity's constant reassurances that she just had bad nerves when it came to public events. More like public humiliation. But, for whatever reason, tonight she was looking forward to the dance at Elysium, more than likely because she knew Puck would be there, and at the moment that was really her only motivation in going to the thing in the first place, aside from the fact she wasn't about to send Trinity and Catherine on their own to face the Unseelie Court without backup.

"Well, come, come, now, over to the mirror," Lady Weaver was snapping at her, standing beside the floor length mirror that hung on the wall just beside her wardrobe, beckoning Nikki over with a bony finger. "I didn't spend this time working so you could walk out without having a clue what you look like."

Nikki gave a small, weary smile, and did as the seamstress commanded, moving slowly across the floor, feeling the spider silk gown shifting around her with ever movement, and took a deep breath before stepping to face her reflection, immediately feeling her heart twirl giddily in her chest as she gaped at herself. She had known the dress would be gorgeous beyond belief, given what she knew of Lady Weaver's general everyday work, and having had one other special dress made for her, but that still didn't quite prepare her for the dazzling effect of her dress on her. She barely recognized herself in it, really.

It glittered like thousands of emeralds had been sewn into the fabric, and hugged every curve of her body like a glove, before dropping straight to the floor and pooling at her feet like so much emerald silk. She didn't quite have sleeves, as she might have liked, but she felt the glittering straps would be more than enough to keep her safe from possible wardrobe malfunctions through the next eight or so hours. Seeing a glimmer of something sheer behind her, attached to the back of her dress, she turned slightly to get a better glimpse, feeling as well as seeing the dress ripple around her like glimmering jade water, and managed to get at least a half view of the sheer, jade shawl trailing down from the straps of her dress to the floor behind her. Staring at herself, Nikki felt a smile light her face as she turned back to face the mirror, the dress swishing around her, lighter than air, and she sighed in contentment.

"It's beautiful, Lady Weaver," she said, turning to look at the seamstress with a grateful expression as the fey woman came up, clasping something silver and green in her hands. "Thank you."

"Of course," sniffed Lady Weaver, unmoved by the thanks as she reached out to yank Nikki's hand up, pushing a thin silver bracelet inlaid with sparkling emeralds onto her wrist, then reaching up with another silvery piece of jewelry to drape it over Nikki's head until it slid into place on her neck. Glancing down, Nikki saw a very large, teardrop shaped emerald sparkling at her throat. "Take very good care of that dress, Lady Nicolette. I worked quite hard on it and I don't want to see it ruined. I know you have a knack for getting rowdy, not to mention Robin Goodfellow, as your partner, is sure to wreak some havoc as well, and I just want to see the dress hung up in one piece."

"I'll do my best," Nikki promised the woman, glancing up with a small grin.

Well, _she'd _do her best; she couldn't say anything about Puck's behavior. That was all on him. Though she knew for certain if he damaged her dress she'd probably kill him before Lady Weaver could even get her bony fingers around his neck. For his sake, he better keep a level head and treat her and her dress very well tonight.

"Now then," said Lady Weaver in a very authoritative voice, bending over her box and snapping the lid shut. "Let us go. The festivities will be starting soon and Oberon will want you and the other two up at the table in the next few minutes. Especially Catherine, since he is escorting her."

"How does that work, exactly?" Nikki asked, turning to follow the seamstress from the room. "Escorting Catherine, I mean. I thought that meant he'd have to walk her into the hall, but I'm starting to think I've got the wrong idea about it."

"Of course he isn't walking her into the hall," said Lady Weaver with a little sniff of indignation, "That would be ludicrous. No, by escorting her, she will be required to sit directly beside him, and any man who might wish to dance with her will have to get his direct permission first."

"Ah," said Nikki, frowning. So that's what it meant. For some reason, she didn't feel like that was quite as comforting as having the King walk her friend into the hall would have been. That meant that all Rowan had to do if he wanted to get close to Catherine was ask for a dance and hope Oberon granted it to him.

She didn't imagine the Summer King would very easily give up the permission, of course, but that didn't mean he'd just sit there and repetitively deny the Prince the chance to dance with Catherine if he was really desperate to get close. She supposed all she could hope for was that Oberon denied Rowan the first time—assuming the Prince even got the idea in his head to ask permission—and that Rowan would give up immediately after the first attempt. There wouldn't be much sense in coming back again anyway, since it would only embarrass him if he ended up denied a second time.

"Ah," said Lady Weaver abruptly as they stepped into the hallway, stopping so that Nikki nearly ran into the woman from behind and had to quickly step back to avoid a collision. "It looks like your man is already waiting on you."

Confused, Nikki peered around the seamstress to see Puck walking towards them, his face split into an enormous smile. An emerald cape flapped around him, and she caught a glimpse of matching slacks and a tunic beneath it as he came up to them, though he still wore his usual leather boots, and he had no sword.

"You clean up well when you want to, Goodfellow," Lady Weaver said, her gaze appreciative as she gave Puck a quick once-over. "I am surprised Oberon gave you such a fine outfit for the night, when he would usually have you come as your usual appearance dictates and just leave you to your own devices."

"Yeah, I half wish he would have just let me do that," Puck said with a slight grimace, plucking at his lavish outfit, "Because this is just not my style. But he apparently thinks if I'm going to be escorting a lady I need to be more presentable."

"Of course you should," barked Lady Weaver, giving him a sharp look. "You cannot walk around like a bum of the court when you are to be looking after Lady Nicolette. That would the most disrespectful thing, and it is a very good thing Oberon had the foresight to give you appropriate clothes for the occasion as your calling for the night dictates."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Puck, rolling his green eyes and flashing Nikki a resigned look, "I got it. I should be grateful he got me out of my rags. I'll remember that."

"See that you do," huffed Lady Weaver, then turned and marched off ahead of them, leaving Nikki to stare at Puck, who turned back to her with a grin back on his face.

"I prefer my rags, to be honest," he confided in a low mutter.

"I know you do," she giggled, then felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she caught the way Puck was now taking her in.

He'd apparently just noticed her dress, and his emerald eyes were taking her in as though she were some kind of priceless artwork that would fade from sight if he didn't make sure to memorize her well enough the first time. Feeling nervous, and quite self conscious of herself, Nikki lifted a hand to run it through her hair, only to remember as her fingers touched tight curls that she couldn't manage that maneuver on account of the fact that Lady Weaver had put her hair up in an intricate knot with several very bouncy curls trailing down against the back of her neck. She settled for fidgeting with the strap of her dress instead, her eyes fixed on the floor as Puck continued to watch her with that warm glow in his emerald eyes.

"You look beautiful," he said at last, his voice soft.

Nikki glanced up at him, and felt her heart flutter to see him smiling at her, a real smile. The one she liked seeing on him the best, because it made his eyes light up from inside and shine like polished jewels.

"You look really nice, too," she mumbled, and he chuckled.

"I suppose I pass," he said, stepping forward to offer his arm, which she gently slipped her hand onto. "I'm still just a jester in a rich man's clothes. You're a princess, though."

"Only for the night," she said, smiling slightly as she tightened her grip on his arm, concentrating on not tripping over the hem of her dress, though that seemed an unnecessary fear as the material kept shifting almost on its own to avoid her feet whenever she stepped forward.

"So, are you telling me you're Cinderella?" Puck joked in a low voice, and she glanced up again to see laughter in his eyes.

"Maybe," she admitted, glancing down again, leaning subconsciously into him.

"I think you're much prettier than Cinderella," he murmured, leaning down to brush a kiss across the top of her head. "And you'll still be a princess after midnight. You'll just be the princess of jeans and t-shirts."

"I like being the princess of t-shirts and jeans," Nikki said, "They're so much easier to wear, and I don't care if I spill anything on them."

"I totally agree," said Puck with a low chuckle. "But, either way, you're gorgeous."

"It's a good thing I know you can't lie, or I'd totally have called you out on that one," she muttered, and he laughed aloud, causing several courtiers standing in the halls to turn their heads curiously in their direction.

"I would never lie to you," Puck said once he'd finally stopped laughing, taking her by surprise as he moved his arm away from her hand, only to wrap it firmly around her waist, pulling her up against him.

Nikki felt her cheeks darken and heat up, and she muttered incoherently as she nuzzled Puck's chest, uncaring of the stunned looks they were receiving both from passing nobility and servants as they drew closer and closer to the main hall, where the main events of Elysium would take place. She heard soft music playing through the halls as they drew slowly nearer to the hall and the throne room, and as they turned the final corner before it, Nikki caught the wafting smell of flowers, making her a little light headed, and when she blinked the haze clear she was stunned to find the hall decorated with thousands of faery lights, each flickering a different, vibrant color as it hung suspended in the air above her. More formed an arch leading into the throne room, and as they passed under it Nikki felt her mouth unhinge as she got the full view of just how changed the throne room had become.

Long tables lined the walls, pushed to the far sides to make a large space in the middle, which was covered in marble tiles to make a dance floor. The table directly ahead of them was the only table not set into a straight line, and instead formed a rather odd U-shape. The top of the U held two thrones, undoubtedly for Oberon and Titania, with four chairs lined up, two on each side, just next to the thrones. Nikki realized those chairs would be for her, Trinity, Puck and Catherine once they'd all sat down, and wondered which leader she would end up squished in beside. With a flicker of surprise, she realized there was no chair for Demon, and wondered where the Cait Sith would end up once everyone had gotten settled. She hoped Oberon wasn't going to make him stand somewhere for the whole night…

Momentarily forgetting that thought, she turned her attention to the other two sides of the U-shaped table, and noted that the side to her right had one throne, with one smaller chair on each side of it, undoubtedly for Mab and her two sons once they arrived. The left side of the U-table had two thrones—one for Ash and the other for Meghan—and one chair on each side of the throne for Glitch and Tertius, who she remembered would be the only Iron knights permitted to show up tonight. She had been wondering about how many people would come to Elysium with the Iron Queen and Prince, and Puck had a note to tell her that—though Oberon and Mab had agreed to allow Ash and Meghan to come—they were only permitted two escorts, as any more knights were bound to make the other two courts nervous, and it wasn't a good idea to push the boundaries of the peace making any farther than was absolutely necessary.

"That's weird," muttered Puck, looking up at the table in confusion.

"What? The set up?" Nikki asked, frowning.

"No," murmured Puck, shaking his head and looking around curiously as though searching for something or someone. "Oberon isn't here yet. And neither is Titania. Usually one or the other is already here. Both of them are generally here, but it's weird that neither of them is. It's getting close to time for Elysium to start…"

"Maybe they're running late," suggested Nikki, also starting to look around for the Summer King and Queen, feeling a little uncertain when she didn't spot them, though she could see many Summer courtiers beginning to file into the hall from the archway, murmuring amongst themselves.

"That's highly unlikely," said Puck in a low voice, and briefly broke away from Nikki to turn to face the archway, peering over the heads of the incoming nobles and other fey in the hopes of seeing his king. "Nik, you go sit up at the table. Either side is fine. I'm going to go see what's going on with Oberon."

"You're worried something's wrong?" Nikki asked, feeling a sudden twisting in her gut.

"Not exactly wrong," said Puck, looking back at her, "Just thinking that maybe he's lost track of the time thanks to a squabble with Titania. With both of them being so on edge today, it wouldn't take much to push them over the edge."

"Alright," she said, nodding, beginning to move away. "I'll be up there, then. I'll save you a seat."

Puck flashed her a smile, then stepped forward to grab her hand and press a kiss to her palm, completely ignoring a couple of shocked gasps that rose up around them as several nobles caught sight of him and Nikki. Nikki could feel her face burning, but pretended not to notice the gaping stares as well as Puck released her hand and gave her a small wave before rushing out of the hall, leaving her alone in the very center of the room and becoming uncomfortably aware of every single eye in the room turning on to her. Clearing her throat and swiftly turning away from the archway, she made her way quickly up to the U-shaped table at the very front of the room, contemplating where she should sit briefly before taking the chair on the immediate right of the right-hand throne, figuring that even if Titania ended up sitting in it that she could at least keep Puck from enduring the Faery Queen's wrath through the night.

Smoothing down her dress, and reminding herself to take deep breaths every few seconds to avoid making herself dizzy, she chanced a brief glance around the room, and though she caught the eyes of a few nobles as they continued to stare at her, she felt relieved to see that not everyone was watching her anymore, and was going about their business getting ready for Elysium as well. Heaving a deep sigh as she finally got tired of looking around the room and meeting the same speculative looks everywhere she seemed to glance, she turned her brown eyes down to stare at the bronze plate in front of her, wondering vaguely if Oberon and Titania had gotten into a fight, and, if they had, what had it been about?

She hoped it wasn't bad enough to make either monarch bitter for the rest of the night, because she wasn't sure how well she could handle sitting up at the table with them both for much longer than a few minutes. And she imagined it wouldn't really make the best impression if they gave Mab any indication that was trouble in Summer paradise. Knowing the Winter Queen from every description she'd gotten of the woman, Mab would undoubtedly make some kind of trouble out of it, or look at it as a weakness and pinpoint it for whatever purpose she could. Though she couldn't outright declare war on Summer just because her enemy court happened to be suffering a moment of discord didn't mean the Ice Monarch would simply overlook the golden opportunity.

Well, she thought, heaving another sigh as she began to poke at her bronze dining ware, with any luck, Puck would find them and just get them here. She couldn't really hope for more than that.

"You look like a girl with a lot on her mind," said a voice then, and her head snapped up to see Catherine standing in front of her, smiling wanly.

"Hey," Nikki said, grinning up at her friend, "And not particularly. Just wondering if Oberon and Titania have killed each other since neither of them is here yet and Puck sounded the alarm and went looking for them. By the way, just what sorry bastard are you trying to make cry tonight? You look hot."

Catherine gave a sheepish grin as she glanced down at the curve hugging dress she wore, which was a sleek black article that almost looked like it were constructed of velvet and silk. It had only one sleeve, and a gauzy black material hung down from Catherine's one covered shoulder to her wrist, which had a small bracelet of silver on it, similar to Nikki's own jewelry, but with a topaz glowing in the center as opposed to an emerald.

"You look really great, too," Catherine told her friend, looking up to give Nikki's emerald dress an appraising look. "I'm surprised Puck didn't faint."

"He probably did," came Trinity's laughing voice, and a moment later the girl appeared at Catherine's side, looking absolutely stunning in a dress as blue as her eyes, her hair up in a very elegant twist with a sapphire hair pin holding it together, "He just had to wake up super fast to make sure he didn't look like an idiot in front of her."

"He didn't faint," said Nikki exasperatedly. "Not even close. He said I looked nice, though."

"That is an offending understatement, ma'am," Puck said, striding up abruptly out of nowhere and dropping into the seat beside her, giving her a brief look of disappointment, "I did not say you looked 'nice'. I said you looked 'gorgeous'. Please do me the kindness of remembering the difference."

"Back already?" Nikki asked him sweetly, to which he cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh, I see," he said with a snort, "Avoiding the topic. Fine, then, we will take this up later on the dance floor. And, before you ask, yes, I found Lord Pointy Ears."

"Was he fighting with Titania?" asked Nikki with a little frown, to which Trinity and Catherine both looked uneasy.

"Nope," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes. "I half wish they had been. Nah…he was making nice with her because she'd been throwing a tantrum about him playing escort to Catherine tonight."

"So they were making out?" Trinity asked, flashing a wry smirk in Puck's direction.

He grimaced. "Just about. I interrupted before they could start. I don't think Titania's very happy with me about it, and neither is Lord Pointy Ears for that matter. He told me to get back in here and he'd be here in a few minutes."

"Ah, the joys of being reprimanded," sighed Nikki, reaching over to pat Puck's arm consolingly so he threw her a rueful grin. "At least they aren't fighting. That should make the night much nicer."

"Let's hope," snorted Puck, not looking entirely convinced. "You have to remember we're still facing the gauntlet what with Mab showing up with Rowan and Sage later."

"Yeah, well, let's not think about that for right now," said Catherine, surprising them a little. When they all turned to stare at her, she smiled. "I want to enjoy the moment while I can. Lady Weaver wouldn't forgive me if I didn't have a good time in this dress."

"Here here," said Trinity, grinning. "By the way, since it's on my mind, where's Demon?"

"Napping," said Catherine, rolling her eyes. "He's not coming. Oberon came by earlier and told him he had two choices: Man up and wear nice clothes to Elysium, or stay in the room. Obviously, Demon was thrilled to hear the second option and the minute Oberon left he curled up on the bed and hasn't moved since I was there. He just told me that if something happens with Rowan to scream and someone ought to come running."

"Of course, not expecting said person to be him," noted Puck with a snort.

"Let sleeping Cait Siths lie," Nikki advised him wisely, drawing raised eyebrows from the Summer faery.

"You are a strange little child," Puck told her, to which she smirked and winked at him, but before the banter could go much farther there was a loud trumpeting from the archway and a squat little goblin came toddling in, very regally dressed in a red uniform with bronze buttons, and announced in a carrying voice,

"Their royal highnesses King Oberon and Queen Titania, Lord and Lady of the Summer Court."

The hall rang with applause, and all around them nobles rose to their feet to honor the King and Queen as they entered the hall, arm in arm. Trinity and Catherine scurried to their places at the table, applauding as well, and Nikki and Puck rose to their feet as Oberon and Titania swept across the floor to the table, pausing at the top of the stairs leading to their seats to turn and bow their heads to their subjects, who at last fell silent and resumed their seats.

"Did they really need their own entrance in their own court?" muttered Nikki under her breath to Puck, who smirked and shrugged.

"Monarchs," he whispered back, "They've always got to have the final word."

"Of course," giggled Nikki, then quickly went quiet as Titania swept around the table to take the throne immediately to Nikki's left. The Queen's icy blue gaze rested with momentary disdain on Nikki, then she sniffed and turned her face in the completely opposite direction, as though by pretending Nikki was not sitting there, she could make it so.

Nikki exchanged a bored look with Puck, shrugged, and settled back in her seat to watch yet more nobles filing into the hall. She glanced over at Oberon at one point, just to see what he was up to on his throne, and spotted him with his head bowed to Catherine's, speaking very quietly in her ear. By the way Catherine was nodding but not speaking Nikki had a pretty good guess that Oberon was giving her friend the rundown of how the night would go as far as the King being her escort. When Oberon finally leaned way, raising an eyebrow questioningly at Catherine, the girl merely smiled shyly up at him, nodded her head once, then turned to speak with Trinity as the girl leaned over to bring up a discussion about something or other.

Nikki went back to watching the crowd, not really paying attention to how many people were coming in, only know there were quite a lot, and the hall was getting crowded, though at one point she spotted a familiar ginger haired sidhe step into the hall as Sorrel made his entrance and went to seat himself at one of the farther off tables, immediately falling into conversation with a blindingly gorgeous female sidhe with sparkling silver hair. A little later, she saw Sonata as the Summer noble appeared, his snow white hair glistening in the faery light. She was surprised when he paused in the archway, his electric blue eyes locking on the table where they all sat, before he walked straight up to them, only pausing to bow very low to Oberon and Titania, who inclined their heads. Nikki glanced up at the Summer Queen as the woman leaned forward slightly, and felt a flicker of disgust to see the fey Monarch staring avidly at Sonata as he straightened, her blue eyes greedily raking over the noble.

However, Sonata seemed to be oblivious to the Queen's interest, and, much to Nikki's glee, turned instead to look at Catherine, a soft smile on his face. She couldn't make out her friend very well from here without being overly obvious about what she was doing, so she sat still and just listened as Sonata spoke.

"As my Lady has not been in Arcadia long, I hope this night can be one you remember with fondness."

"I am sure it will be," Catherine replied softly, and Nikki could hear the shyness in her friend's voice.

Titania was still staring at Sonata, though her expression wasn't so much eager now as it was stunned as the noble inclined his head to Catherine and said,

"I hope my Lady will save a dance for me. I will not be able to remain here long, but hopefully long enough."

"Of course," said Catherine while Nikki tried to fight back the smug grin that was threatening to appear as a look of pure disbelief took over Titania's features. Totally priceless…

"Then I will wait for you later tonight, my Lady," Sonata said, bowing to Catherine before turning to Oberon and Titania. "Your majesties."

Oberon inclined his head once more, but Titania merely glared at Sonata, who did not seem too disturbed as he turned on his heel and moved away to take up his place at one of the nearby long tables where an elderly looking fey with a long red beard immediately leaned over to strike up a conversation. Nikki noted that they kept glancing back up at the high table, and more than once she saw the older fey look pointedly at Titania, who was glaring off in another direction, unaware she was the object of conversation, and at one point Sonata smirked at his companion and nodded, to which the elder fey burst into laughter and clapped the white haired sidhe heartily on the back.

Grinning to herself, Nikki turned to Puck, who was resting his head on his palm, also watching Sonata and the other sidhe with a look of amusement on his face. When he caught Nikki watching him, he winked and smirked.

"You would have loved to hear that conversation," he told her in an undertone.

"Could you hear what they were saying?" Nikki asked quietly.

"I read lips," Puck said with a sly grin.

"I should have guessed that," snickered Nikki. "So, what were they saying?"

Puck seemed to think about his answer, his eyes flickering over Nikki's head to where Titania sat, staring furiously ahead of her as she drummed long fingernails on the wooden table before her, and gave Nikki an apologetic look.

"Think you can wait until we hit the dance floor?" he asked, and she nodded. Smiling at her, he reached out to link his fingers through hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, just as the fanfare from earlier rang out again, and the same squat goblin from before came waddling in. "And here we go," sighed Puck, turning his emerald eyes onto the archway.

Nikki sighed as well, but was glad that he kept a hold of her hand under the table, his thumb occasionally feathering across her knuckles.

"Her Majesty, Queen Mab," the goblin was announcing in his high, clear voice, bringing the court into immediate silence, "Lady of the Winter Court, Sovereign of the Autumn Territories, and Queen of Air and Darkness."

Nikki found herself holding her breath as the first of the Unseelie Court came into the hall, feeling a shudder run down the length of her spine as she watched demonic little red caps scamper in, holding the banners of their court high above their heads, and bogeys, tall and spindly and absolutely horrible to look at. She watched the dark creatures of the Winter Court make their appearance in growing numbers, though Puck noted, half to himself, that there were half as many there as there had been the last time Elysium had been held in Summer. Nikki didn't really pay attention to the numbers of the creatures filling the hall, her only thought being that any number of these monstrous things might have taken part in Catherine's torment during her imprisonment in Tir Na Nog. With a glance down the table at her friend, she felt a sickening jolt to see Catherine's jade eyes stretched wide with barely concealed fear, and her lower lip as trembling she kept a wary eye on the parade of red caps standing very near to the table, though not a one of them seemed to take notice of her.

Wishing she could go over to console her friend, and feeling a little less tense when she saw Trinity slip a hand to Catherine's arm to comfort her, Nikki shivered as a sudden chill swept through the room, bringing the temperature down by a quite few degrees. Feeling goose bumps coming up all over her arms, she turned her attention back to the archway, alarmed to see little patches of frost beginning to grow across the brambles and flowers, which turned to a glistening black right before her eyes. She felt her stomach dissolve, and clenched her hand more tightly around Puck's, who cast a reassuring glance, and applied warm pressure to her fingers as well just as Queen Mab stepped into the room.

Nikki had always tried to imagine what the Unseelie Queen would look like, but she felt that her imagination would never have done the woman any kind of justice now that she was looking right at the genuine article. Sleek black hair, highlighted in midnight blue, cascaded down Mab's back, slithering over her porcelain shoulders and shadowing her jet black eyes, which showed not even a flicker of emotion as she walked regally into the hall, her head held high, her pale mulberry lips drawn into a thin line. Her dress looked as though it could have been made from the night itself. Sometimes black, sometimes deepest purple or blue, it clung to her slight frame, baring her arms and shoulders, and Nikki couldn't help but feel that Mab was the kind of woman that men wrote songs about, or even started wars for, and made woman refuse to face themselves in the mirror again. Power clung to the Ice Queen like a second skin, fairly radiating off of her in tangible waves that made Nikki's head spin, and she felt herself immensely lucky that the Winter Monarch did not look once in her direction, because she probably would have passed out if she had. And if she didn't, it would have been because the only thing keeping her staring at Mab when she would have looked away was the thought that here, standing before her, was the woman who had imprisoned her best friend, and possibly almost killed her.

Mab drew nearer to the table, her eyes never once flickering left or right, but staring dead ahead of her to where Oberon and Titania sat, and as she finally drew to a stop at the bottom of the steps leading up to the table Oberon bowed his head deeply to her, and Titania followed suit. Mab nodded curtly to both Summer monarchs, her black eyes narrowing slightly, before she turned to make her way to her seat. Halfway into turning on her heel, however, she stopped dead, her eyes having flashed over Catherine, and as she stood frozen to the spot they slowly came back to stare into Catherine's wide, glittering jade eyes, and Nikki could hear Mab's breath catch audibly in her chest as she gazed in disbelief at the girl before her.

Catherine did not move, or speak, or even blink, holding her breath as Mab was while her heart raced so fast she felt like it might just break her ribs if it kept the pace. Trinity's hand still rested on her arm, but her skin had gone icy cold as she stared back into Mab's disbelieving eyes, and she couldn't feel the comforting touch of her friend. Every hair on the back of her neck was standing on end, and it took all of her willpower not to leap to her feet and run from the room as she looked into the face of the woman who had once haunted her nightmares, and made her life a living hell.

Her hands were trembling in her lap, and she was doing her best not to let tears come to her eyes as she continued to gaze down at Mab, waiting for the Queen to start shrieking or demanding her blood, or to call Oberon out on treason for hiding her. But Mab did none of these things, and after an unfathomably long time the Queen seemed to let her breath out, and the disbelief melted immediately off of her face to be replaced with a carefully composed mask of total apathy as the Ice Monarch turned away sharply and strode to her seat without saying a word, or even looking back at Oberon. Catherine felt the breath leave her lungs in a rush, and felt her body physically cave a little so her shoulders slumped. Trinity squeezed her arm, and she glanced at her friend to see the girl looking at her with wide, concerned sapphire eyes. Briefly shaking her head at the question in Trinity's gaze, Catherine swallowed hard and straightened up in her seat, still breathing deeply, as the last of Mab's entourage filed into the hall.

A few dozen Winter sidhes that the Queen had chosen to accompany her entered, and just when Catherine had gotten her breath back from the face-off with Mab, she felt her blood run cold again to see the two faces at the very head of the throng of Winter nobility. Mab's sons, the Princes Rowan and Sage, walked forward, leading the nobility along behind them, dressed in almost identical uniforms of ice blue and black, their capes billowing around them, and their hands resting lightly on the hilts of the sabers that glittered dangerously at their sides, emitting an eerie blue light. Catherine saw Rowan first, as he was the closest as he and his brother approached the head table while the nobles behind them dispersed to take up seats among the Summer nobles with visible disgust and unease. The younger winter Prince stepped up to the table, dropping to one knee to genuflect before the Summer Monarchs, who both graced him with a small nod before her rose and stepped back, his ice blue eyes scanning the table, starting on Nikki's end.

Nikki met the Prince's gaze head on as he looked at her, and he seemed to be rather surprised and amused to find her looking at him so fiercely. And she didn't merely stare at him as she had his mother, she openly glared, and as he looked at her he arched a black eyebrow, his regal, handsome face breaking into the smallest of smirks. She narrowed her dark eyes at him, and thought he chuckled before letting his eyes pass over her to scan the rest of the table. She knew the minute he'd found Catherine, because the smug expression was immediately gone from his face to be replaced with a look of total disbelief and something like horror, and his mouth parted slightly in a short gasp that had his brother, Sage, pausing as he rose to his feet from greeting the King and Queen to glance uncertainly at his sibling.

"You," Rowan breathed, his blue eyes wide as he stared at Catherine, who, at that moment, felt like she might just be facing the gallows as a moment after the shock had faded from the prince's eyes it was replaced with a vengeful fury and his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword as though he longed to draw it.

"Rowan," Mab's voice cracked like a whip through the silence of the court, and Rowan visibly straightened as he glanced sideways towards his mother and his queen. Mab was glaring at him, her eyes clearly warning him, and after a long moment of the two Winter royals staring at each other, Rowan stepped back from the table and bowed his head to her before sweeping away to his seat on her left, which was farthest from Catherine.

"That almost turned ugly," Puck breathed softly, sounding oddly pained, and Nikki realized as she glanced at him that he was wincing. Looking down at their intertwined hands she realized with a slight jolt that she was practically crushing his fingers, and hastily loosened her grip.

"Sorry," she whispered to him, and he flashed her a small grin.

"Just keep breathing, beautiful, you'll be fine," he told her quietly, flexing his fingers gingerly to restore proper circulation.

Nikki might be fine if she kept breathing, but on the other end of the table, Catherine had completely forgotten how to breathe again, because Rowan might have finally stepped away, but Sage was still standing before her, or rather before Oberon and Titania, but it wasn't more than a moment before his frosty green eyes settled on her face, and she felt a familiar, wrenching agony in her chest, constricting around her heart so that she nearly gagged as he blinked once at her, his expression neutral, and stepped away to seat himself on his mother's right hand side. He did not look at her again.

Catherine had been prepared to see him—she had thought, anyway—and she had been prepared for the total lack of acknowledgment she was sure to receive from him, but she had not been at all prepared for the absolutely crushing sensation that settled down on her like an entire mountain had been dropped on her shoulders, and as she sat there, carefully facing anywhere but where Sage was sitting, she found herself suddenly fighting back tears as Trinity rubbed her hand gently back and forth across her arm, attempting to soothe her. She had thought she could handle this, but now she realized how stupid of an assumption that had been. She wouldn't ever be ready… She could face Mab and she could face Rowan, because they couldn't hurt her here, and even if they did it wouldn't be the kind of harm she was learning to expect from Sage. His mother and brother could deal her physical torment of the worst kind, but only he could deal the most devastating blow straight to her emotions… Whether he knew it or not, he had the most dangerous advantage over her, and the most capability of destroying her, and she had been more than stupid to lull herself into the false impression that she would ever be able to become immune to that power of his. She could work for a thousand years to shut herself off, and in the end it would always be the same.

He could always undo her…

Trinity was watching Catherine very carefully from the corner of her eyes, and though she couldn't distinctly make out her friend's expression from her rigid vantage point, she could feel the girl trembling like a leaf under her soothing hand, and felt a tugging at her heart to think that Catherine was suffering this much already just because she had been forced to face the two people who had almost imprisoned her for good. It had to be hard, and Trinity felt sick with guilt and anger that she could currently do nothing more than sit there and idly pat her friend on the arm like that was going to make any difference in how Catherine felt. It wasn't fair… Catherine shouldn't have had to go through this again after narrowly escaping the Winter Queen and her sadistic bastard of a son the first time, and though Trinity had felt a soaring relief to see that Mab seemed to have little to no interest left in getting Catherine back and locking her up, she couldn't say the same for Rowan. It was just as Sorrel had warned them two weeks ago. Mab might have given up any thoughts of revenge, but Rowan most certainly hadn't.

They were just lucky his mother seemed to have a good grip on his reigns, because otherwise they would have a serious problem. Trinity only hoped with all of her heart that Mab could keep that tight grip on Rowan's bridle, because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep from taking out the rat's ass bastard otherwise. And she didn't want Oberon to be held responsible for her assault on a Winter Prince if it happened to end in a brawl.

"Their Majesties," the squat goblin was crying out again, drawing her attention momentarily from her less than peaceful thoughts, "Queen Meghan and Prince Ash, Lady and Lord of the Iron Kingdom, and reigning Sovereigns of the Steel Territories."

Trinity felt her heart jump into her throat as the fanfare began, and a moment later Meghan and Ash appeared under the archway, trailed by Glitch and Tertius, who were decked out in their military finest, their steel armor glinting in the light cast by the faery fire, and the swords at their sides gleaming lethally. Meghan was absolutely dazzling in a dress of pure silver that pinched in around her waist, only to flare out in a flowing ball gown just at her hips. The shimmering sleeves of her gown sparkled like diamonds as she passed beneath the lights, and a small tiara of sapphires and diamonds glittered beautifully among her white-blonde curls. Ash was dashing beside his wife and Queen, dressed in black slacks and a steel colored tunic, a cape of darkest gray flowing from his shoulders almost to brush the floor. Arm in arm, the Queen and Prince approached the high table, ignoring the mutinous glares they received from some of the Summer and Winter sidhes, though Glitch made sure to give each and every offender a stony look, his fingers playing deliberately across the hilt of his saber so the fey in the court shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Tertius looked straight ahead of him, straight and tall, with his black hair catching the light and casting shadows into silvery eyes. Trinity could scarcely breathe as she watched him come nearer, and just when Meghan and Ash had stopped before the table to incline their heads to Oberon and Titania, the Iron knight's gaze flickered over to her, and she felt her heart leap in her chest. He didn't smile at her, but the look in his eyes as he stared at her conveyed more than enough even without words, though he swiftly looked away as he and Glitch were made to step forward and genuflect before the Seelie King and Queen before marching to take up seats on either side of their rulers.

With all the monarchs now gathered at the table, Elysium went into full swing in a matter of minutes. Food was brought in by the furry servers and satyrs, and wine was poured for all gathered at the tables. The lesser creatures of the Winter and Summer courts were eventually shooed from the hall to wait for the feast to be over. The Winter fey were sent out to the carriages by which they had arrived to wait for Mab to come and give them leave to depart, and the Summer faction busied themselves about the palace, making sure to steer clear of the Winter fey. That left the nobility and royalty to dine in the hall with only the servers left to keep them happy. As Nikki soon discovered of Winter sidhes, the whole group of them were incredibly needy, though she half wondered if that was due in part to the fact that they were in their enemy's territory and were deciding to make the most of it while here, just as a little retaliation for not being able to go into a full out battle.

Either way, she wished she could get the whole thing over and done with. She had been looking forward to dancing with Puck, and a part of her still most certainly was, but another more prominent part of her kept leading her to glance down the table to where Catherine was sitting rigidly and not eating a thing, and wishing she could whisk her friend out of the hall and away from any potential danger. And there was most certainly danger, considering that every few seconds when his mother wasn't speaking to him, Rowan would take the opportunity to shoot dark, narrow eyed glances up at Catherine, which the girl didn't miss, and grew increasingly more nervous with every eye contact made between herself and the Prince.

Nikki noticed that the youngest Winter Prince wasn't the only one that kept looking at Catherine, though, much to her surprise. Sage, the eldest, would occasionally glance around when he was waiting for his wine goblet to be refilled, and fix his eerie, frost green eyes on Catherine, who would never look up when he was doing this, though Nikki had seen her catch him once and immediately looked away with her face turning so pale she nearly rivaled Mab in skin color. Nikki attributed it to nerves, but something nagged at her, reminding her of how Catherine had basically been forced to admit that Sage been part of the cause behind her unusual behavioral changes, and she couldn't quite keep her brown gaze from wandering back to the eldest Winter Prince as well, though he never once bothered to look at her, only at his plate, at his mother, or at Catherine, who pointedly refused to face him for the rest of the time that he was at the table.

"Well," sighed Puck after he'd finished what had seemed like his fourth course, "I think I've had a good enough time at the bar scene, here. What say we take the floor by storm, beautiful?"

He flashed her a killer smile, and she felt her stomach both flip over in excitement and dissolve in terror as her eyes wandered down to eye the marble dance floor with evident apprehension in her eyes.

"It won't eat you," Puck promised her with a small smile, gently twining his fingers with hers.

"No," she agreed slowly, not standing when he started to rise, "But it might just trip me."

"You won't trip," he promised her gently, pulling her firmly from her seat and leading her down from the table under the speculative gaze of Oberon and the other monarchs.

As they passed Ash and Meghan, Ash turned and gave a sly wink to Puck, who gave a thumbs-up. Glitch smirked at Nikki, who felt like she might just faint as she tried not to let her high heels come out from underneath her as she finally stepped onto the dance floor with Puck guiding her.

"I feel sick," she whispered as they faced the head table and Puck bowed while she dropped a brief curtsy.

"Just look at me," he told her as he signaled to the fey band in the corner to strike up the music, then settled one hand on her waist and took her hand in the other. "Don't think about anything, not even the steps. Just listen to the music, and look at me, and just go with it."

And then they were off, Puck taking the first step, and Nikki at first struggling to follow his lead, nearly stomping on his foot in the process, and feeling heat flush into her face as she nearly tripped into him. He didn't seem to notice her fumbling however, and no one in the crowd made a sound as she finally gave up on trying to match his steps, and simply flowed with the music, letting it drift around her, and looking straight into Puck's eyes while her heart continued to pump erratically in her chest.

"See?" he murmured softly as he spun her out, then back into his waiting arms, smiling as she came easily back into his embrace. "You're doing fantastic, Nik."

"I still feel sick," she mumbled as he whirled her across the marble dance floor, trying not to let anything distract her from staring up into his glittering emerald eyes. "I'm not cut out for public affairs."

"It's not public," he told her with a gentle smile, tightening his arm slightly around her waist to draw her closer. "This is just us. No one else is out here, and no one else matters. Just you and I and the music and the dance floor."

"Our own private little world, huh?" she asked with a little smile that had him chuckling.

"Exactly," he murmured, and dipped her low to the floor so she was clinging to his shoulder with one hand and gripping his arm tightly in the other.

As the final strains of music faded away, and Puck twirled her out and back for a final time before simply drawing to a standstill with her in his arms, the watching fey broke into applause, and Nikki stared around her in amazement while Puck smiled down at her, leaning forward to murmur in her ear,

"They like you."

"They're stupid," she whispered back as he gently led her back towards the main table where Oberon was applauding possibly the loudest and smiling down at them, "That was the worst dance I've ever done!"

"Somehow I doubt that, beautiful," Puck chuckled as he ushered her back to her seat and resuming his own. "You have the natural skill of a dryad. I'm sure your kin would be very proud of you."

Nikki felt her heart jolt at his words, for, until that very moment, she had completely forgotten something Sorrel had told her two weeks ago. He'd sent out callers into the forests, announcing that she would be here in the hopes of drawing either her relatives or even her birth mother to the party. Looking around in sudden hopefulness, she spotted a couple of dryads sitting at a nearby table, still applauding lightly as they smiled at her, but she felt slightly let down to see that they were very clearly Winter dryads, with long, flowing white hair like icicles hanging around their bare, porcelain colored shoulders. Giving them a brief smile she turned away, trying to hide the sinking in the pit of her stomach as she realized they were the only other dryads in the entire hall. Well, she thought as she sank back in her seat, Sorrel had never said his plan was foolproof. Just that he'd try. She had to give him credit for that, at least.

"Don't worry," Puck murmured, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he leaned over towards her, "You'll still find her. It'll just take some time. We can always try looking for her when we go with Cat and Demon to look for her dad."

Nikki nodded, feeling a little boosted by the assurance with which he spoke, and flashed him a grateful smile, which he returned, before something seemed to catch his eye and he sucked in a horrified breath, immediately causing her to turn to see what was up. She felt her breath hitch as well, and her brown eyes grew very round with fear as she spotted Rowan standing at the end of the table, where Trinity and Catherine were seated, a smug smirk on his face as he spoke in a soft voice to the girls.

"Shit," hissed Puck, looking ready to jump out of his seat, "Bad."

Nikki should have stopped him from rising, but she was just as on edge as she tuned her ears in to what Rowan was saying.

"My Lady," the Prince was murmuring, though she couldn't tell which of her friends he was addressing, "Might I have the honor of this dance?"

Nikki held her breath as she waited for Cat to look imploringly up at Oberon, or for the Erkling to make his prepared statement on how Catherine was not at liberty to dance without his permission, and felt her heart leap when Trinity rose gracefully to her feet and moved around the table to lay her hand neatly in Rowan's, and the Prince led her away to the dance floor under the watchful eyes of the nobility.

"Oh," said Puck, sounding a little relieved, and settling back in his chair, though his emerald eyes were still wide with alarm as he gazed down to where Rowan was drawing Trinity close to him as the fey band struck up another slow, whimsical tune. "I guess…that's a little better?"

"A lot better," Nikki confirmed in a breathless voice, feeling as though her head was spinning slightly like a top. "Definitely better…Tri will give him the smack down of his life if he even thinks of trying anything."

And she was by no means wrong. Twirling gracefully on the dance floor, resisting the serious temptation to step purposely on Rowan's toes, Trinity was working hard to keep her face impassive as the Winter Prince gazed down at her with a distinctly smug expression that was getting on her nerves more and more by the second.

"You know," he murmured as he idly twirled her around and back, "While I am very much enjoying this dance, my Lady, I was actually making the offer to your friend there."

"I know you were," Trinity growled at him, narrowing her sapphire eyes at him, to which he turned his icy blue gaze on her, eyebrows shooting up as his smirk broadened. "And you can stay the hell away from her."

"Well, now," said Rowan with a very deliberate smirk as he dipped her towards the floor, "I didn't actually expect you to admit to it. I merely thought perhaps you were being presumptuous, but I guess that would be me doing the assumptions all wrong. So, you're protecting her, are you? You realize, of course, she is a convicted felon, escaped from Tir Na Nog?"

"Bull," said Trinity icily, "You might call her a felon, but you and your fucked up sense of justice locked her in a cage for no reason. I'm not stupid, but you seem to have some hearing problems, so I'll say it again: stay the fuck away from Cat."

Rowan didn't seem at all intimidated by her threats, and rather looked more amused than anything as he continued to lead their dance casually across the floor, glancing up towards the table once to see Catherine watching the pair of them with a stricken expression on her pale face, her wide jade eyes over bright.

"Don't you dare look at her," Trinity all but snarled at Rowan, gripping his hand so tightly in her own that, had he not been a stronger, more disciplined man, he might have winced.

"Temper, temper," he chortled at her, his icy blue eyes looking down into the girl's furious sapphire ones as she glared back up at him. "What is wrong with a look?"

"Just stay away from her or I will make you regret the minute you showed your face here, Rowan," she hissed at him as he twirled her away and then back once more.

"What a mouth on you," he said, sounding highly entertained as he looked down at her, "Though I guess I shouldn't expect any less from the half breed daughter of Oberon's lackey. Shame your father never got to see you here, isn't it? If I'd known you'd be making an appearance, I would have asked my mother to take more care in our previous war so you might have had the chance to speak with him."

"Fuck you," Trinity fairly spat at the Prince as the music finally drew its final chords, and she was permitted to break away from the bastard prince, barely remembering to drop a curtsy to him before striding furiously back to her seat, deaf to the bewildered mutterings going on around her, or the confused look Oberon shot her as she resumed her seat at the table.

Rowan didn't even bother hiding his blatant smirk as he sauntered over to his own seat, granting his mother a brief little nod in response to the dark, skeptical look she gave him as he slid smoothly back into his chair and leaned back, his ice blue eyes intent on the pale face of Catherine as she looked in fear between Trinity, who was muttering rapidly under her breath to her friend as the girl leaned closer, and Rowan, who gave her a small smile as she met his gaze. He felt a savage jolt of pleasure to see the way her jade eyes flickered in alarm upon catching his eye, and she quickly looked away, back to Trinity as the girl slouched back in her seat, sapphire eyes furious as they glared down at the Winter Prince, who heaved a rather bored sigh as he dropped his chin on his hand and scanned the opposite wall with little interest.

Things had just gotten a great deal more interesting, and he was starting to think he was going to be enjoying this particular Elysium much more than the last one he had entertained in Summer's Court. And now, not only had he rediscovered the little runaway cat that he had been spending such increasing time tracking down—in spite of his mother's strict warnings to leave the issue be—but he had also ascertained through his brief interaction with the half breed wench of Oberon's favorite former General that getting a hold of his previous target would not be quite as easy as he had first planned. Not only was Catherine apparently under the watchful eye of the General's daughter, but it seemed that the other girl, whose name he had yet to discover, was also keeping an observant watch on things, considering as he chanced a glance at her she was giving him quite the ugly stare from her place beside Robin Goodfellow, who was also looking like he'd wish for nothing more than to jump up from his seat and take a slash at Rowan's throat. Ah, well, dreamers would continue to dream, and he would continue to plan.

"Rowan," Sage's voice spoke quietly in his ear, drawing his eyes over to see his eldest brother leaning down on his left, a serious expression on his face. "We must talk, brother."

"Can't it wait?" sighed Rowan, giving Sage a weary look. "I'm tired."

"_Now_, Rowan," Sage said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Ugh, fine," sighed the younger Prince, sitting up in his seat, about to leave the table, when a hand slammed down on his wrist, pinning it to the arm of the chair, and he turned, his expression expectant as he faced his mother's icy black stare. "Yes, my Queen?"

"Keep your seat," she growled at him, then flicked a glare at Sage, "You, too, Sage. I will not have the both of you wandering off so early on in the night. Whatever you two have to discuss can wait until a later time. Now _sit_."

"Of course, my Lady," Rowan said, settling down in his chair as Sage dutifully returned to his own seat.

Mab narrowed her eyes at her youngest son, then slowly unclamped her icy fingers from around his arm and turned instead to fix Sage with a very dark look. She did not say anything to the elder Prince, but there was no need considering the look she was giving him, and after he had resumed his seat and nodded obediently to her she had turned her attention to Oberon instead.

"That was scary," whispered Trinity to Catherine, staring down the table as Rowan idly lifted his forearm to massage the spot where his mother had gripped him. "I've never seen anyone move that fast, and if that had been anyone else, I think she might have broken their arm."

Catherine nodded in silent agreement, her eyes flickering uneasily to Rowan, who turned towards her, but not before she'd switched her emerald gaze to Trinity.

"I still can't believe he said that about your dad, Tri," she whispered when Trinity met her frightened green gaze. "That was beyond uncalled for…You would have been in the right to slap him for it."

"I would have done more than just slap him, and that'd put me in the wrong," Trinity grumbled, though her sapphire eyes were bright with anger and pain as she looked back at her friend. "I'm not about to start a war over whether that bastard can walk again. And I don't want to be the one to end up dragging his useless carcass out the door at the end of the night. I'm just going to act like it didn't happen until he leaves, and then I'll go take it out on the sword practice dummy in the courtyard later."

Catherine would have smiled, but couldn't quite find the muscles in her face to make that kind of action work and instead settled down into her chair again, feeling very nauseous. This was just a bad night right now… Though she knew she owed Trinity an arm and a leg and then some for intervening like she had and keeping Rowan from dancing with her, though she had reminded her friend when she'd taken her seat that Oberon could have inserted himself, too. Trinity, of course, hadn't trusted the King to really keep up that part of the deal, since it wasn't all part of his duty tonight, and said that since she'd gone ahead and kept up her end of the deal with Oberon there was really no reason to keep the King bound now. It was done.

"I am so pissed off right now," Trinity hissed under her breath, glaring balefully down at her empty plate and looking rather like she might like to kick something, and really she kind of did. "I just want to get out of here…"

"Pardon me," said a soft voice then, causing Trinity's head to snap up in a heartbeat, her sapphire eyes wide as they locked with penetrating silver ones as Tertius stepped up in front of her. "Perhaps this is an inopportune time, but might I bother the Lady for a dance?"

Trinity felt her mouth go dry as she stared up at Tertius, and the knight gazed back at her, his eyes speaking a thousand things that he could not dare to say aloud, and Trinity felt her heart immediately grow light as he lifted a hand to her, a ghost of a smile flitting across his lips before it disappeared, and she was left staring into his expressionless face, reading everything in his silver eyes instead. Vaguely, she became aware of something nudging her insistently in her arm, and when she glanced to her right it was to see Catherine giving her a pointed look, only sparing one brief glance for Tertius, then giving a knowing smile.

"Go," Catherine hissed when Trinity continued to idly sit in her chair, pushing her friend's arm.

Trinity rose slowly to her feet, hoping to God that she didn't trip before the entire court as she made her away around the table for the second time that night, only this time she felt her heart kick-starting in excitement rather than dread as she laid her hand carefully in Tertius's open palm, feeling her stomach give a jittery flutter as his fingers closed firmly over hers. She glanced up into his eyes again, her breathing becoming slightly erratic as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, and caught him smiling softly at her as he led her onto the dance floor before the eyes of the court. Glancing back only once at the high table, she saw Catherine and Nikki beaming at her, and Puck gave her the tiniest wink and a discreet thumbs-up. Meghan and Ash were smiling secretively, their heads inclined towards each other, and Glitch offered a grin to her as their eyes met briefly. Oberon was looking bemused but interested as she stepped into Tertius's arms and the knight gave a brief nod to the fey orchestra so they started to play soft music. On the Summer King's other side, Titania didn't seem to be paying much attention at all, her cold sapphire eyes focused on a white haired sidhe across the room, but Mab seemed a little interested as she watched with a carefully but not entirely blank expression from her small throne.

Rowan was watching her as well, and his ice blue eyes were narrowed as he smirked at her. She quickly averted her gaze from him, not wanting his arrogance to ruin the moment she was having as she settled her trembling hand on Tertius's shoulder, trying not to come out of her skin with excitement as the Iron Knight placed a hand at her waist, and took the first step of the dance. All eyes were on them as they twirled around the dance floor, but Trinity easily forgot the audience as she stared up into Tertius's face as he spun her and dipped her, whisking her easily across the marble square as though he had been born to dance. And she had been born to be his partner. They never once faltered, not even from the beginning, and every time he moved she followed without thinking, too lost in the swirling depths of his silvery gaze to notice anything else.

"If you keep staring at me like that," he murmured at one point, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he twirled her around, "I think I'm going to burst into flames."

"You, too," she muttered back, feeling her cheeks heat up immediately, "If you don't stop looking like that I'm going to melt and it's going to be all your fault."

"Will it, now?" he asked with a low chuckle, dipping her again before drawing her back up, using the moment to pull her closer into the circle of his arms so they nearly pressed together, and she could feel the heat of his body radiating against her. "And why will it be my fault? Not that I do not believe you, but do I at least get to hear how it is my fault?"

"Your eyes should be illegal," she told him curtly. "You can't keep looking like that. It's sinful."

The minute the word left her mouth she wished she'd had the sense to say something else. "Sinful" just wasn't the word she had wanted to use, but apparently her mind thought it was, and she'd said it. And Tertius's face split into a full on smile as his silvery eyes darkened to steel gray, and a wicked glint entered his gaze.

"I do not believe you understand the meaning of 'sinful', my Lady," he said, bending his head to murmur the words in her ear so she felt a shiver run the length of her spine, making her toes curl in her shoes and her heart thump haphazardly against her ribs.

"And you do?" she asked, a little breathlessly, letting a wry smirk come onto her face.

"I believe I helped invent the meaning of the word," he said with a smirk of his own, the expression giving Trinity a very good idea of just what "sinful" was supposed to mean if she apparently didn't already know.

"I thought that was Puck," she told him jokingly.

"Oh, no," he chuckled, "I am afraid not. He invented 'buffoonery'. Sinful is entirely my doing."

"I'll remember that," she said, and he laughed softly in her ear, his warm breath sending chills down the back of her neck, though they were not entirely unpleasant. "So, are you planning on giving me the definition of 'sinful', or do I just get to figure it out for myself?"

"I believe I will leave it up to my Lady's imagination," Tertius said in a musing voice, that small, teasing smirk still in place as he looked down at her, "I do not believe such words are befitting of your status, after all, and it would be unseemly if I were to give a proper definition."

"Oh, really?" she asked, cocking an ivory brow at him so his smirk broadened slightly. "You know, I'm not a kid. I think I can take it."

"I am sure you can," he chortled, "But I cannot say the same for our audience as of now."

The way he said it made Trinity's heart do countless somersaults as she stared up into his gleaming silver eyes, and she finally gave a small snort of laughter.

"You are such a piece of work," she told him as he spun her out for a final time as the orchestra played the last strains of their music. "And I can't believe you just said that…"

Tertius smiled down at her, his silvery eyes glowing with amusement and tenderness, though there was also a glow of sorrow as he held her for a moment longer than was necessary at the end of the music before stepping reluctantly back, and bowing over her hand to press a soft kiss to it.

"I have no doubt I'll say a good deal more to surprise you," he murmured as he straightened, meeting her sapphire eyes. "Though I'm afraid it will have to be later when there aren't as many potential hazards watching."

"Until then, I guess," she said, trying not to let disappointment color her tone, and not quite making the cut as she stepped away from her knight, feeling a stab of reluctance as she let her hand slip from his. He offered her a small smile that was a mixture of sorrowful and gentle, then bowed to her, and moved back to his table.

She heaved a small sigh as she also returned to her seat, feeling a little put out that the dance couldn't have gone on longer, but reminding herself she was lucky it had happened at all, and letting the warmth settle into her, her heart light as air, as she slid into her seat beside Catherine, and her friend gave her a deliberate smile.

"Feel better?" Catherine asked under her breath, and Trinity grinned at her.

"Euphoric," she murmured back, and Catherine smirked as she leaned back in her seat and glanced across the table at Tertius, who was watching Trinity discreetly out of the corner of his eyes to avoid attracting too much attention. Ash, who the knight was sitting next to, leaned over with a small grin on his face and murmured into his ear, and Tertius smiled as he glanced at Ash and nodded briefly.

"Oberon," Mab said, her voice breaking in on Trinity's blissful daydreaming, and many of the eyes in the room turned on to the Ice Queen as she rose gracefully from her chair and fixed the Erkling with an intense black stare, "We should get down to business, now, if we are done entertaining games. We have many things to get done, and not enough time in one night. If we are going to get started, it should be now or not at all."

"Of course, Lady Mab," Oberon said, inclining his head, "I will rearrange seating here so that we and the Iron Queen may begin the discussions."

He snapped his fingers, and immediately servers were running forward to draw back all of the chairs at the main table so those seated there could rise and step away as yet more well-dressed satyrs came clopping forward to rearrange chairs so that the leaders were all assembled at the center table, with Oberon and Titania in the center and Mab, Ash and Meghan seated on the outer edges. The others, Catherine, Nikki, Trinity, Puck, Tertius, Glitch, Sage and Rowan, were all moved to the out tables, with the Winter and Iron entourages grouped on side facing the four Summer attendees. Trinity ended up facing Tertius from across the space between the tables, and they both smiled as they locked gazes. Puck smirked at Glitch as the Iron knight seated himself across from the Summer jester, and Glitch returned the smirk, violet eyes sparking with challenge. Nikki ended up across from Rowan, which was not a good thing, as she immediately took up the task of glaring at the Ice Prince while he lazily smirked back, but she at least had two tables and a good seven foot space between them to keep her from going for this throat. Catherine found herself in the farthest seat from the main table, with Sage seating himself in the opposite chair at his designated table, and when she dared to glance up at him, her heart in her throat, she felt her stomach bottom out as the Winter sidhe's frost green eyes locked with hers.

She immediately looked down at the table in front of her, biting hard on her lip to the point she tasted coppery blood in her mouth, and worked hard not to let the burning behind her eyes get the better of her. She didn't look up at him again, instead pretending to find interest in the black velvet sash of her dress and bowing her head so her copper hair fell across her face, hiding her expression.

"Before we begin the discussions," Titania's voice said suddenly, drawing the attention of those congregated at the main table, "I feel we should have a final dance. Just for the sake of it. As two of our attendants have yet to take the floor."

Catherine glanced up at the Summer Queen, feeling a sick twisting in the pit of her stomach, and felt like she might just vomit when she found the woman watching her with a rather vindictive look glinting in her ice cold eyes, a small, rather cruel smile on her face.

"Lady Mab," the Queen addressed her enemy, breaking eye contact with Catherine for the moment to fix her blue eyes on the Winter Ruler, who arched a dark eyebrow to indicate she was listening, "Might I suggest that our Lady Catherine have a dance with your son, Prince Sage? After all, she has yet to participate in her first time in Elysium, and it has been some time since Prince Sage has graced us with his presence."

Mab's eye twitched at the clear reference to that one Elysium, many seasons past, when Sage had adamantly refused to accompany her, but she did not give any other sign that she understood Titania's subtly veiled insult, and merely smiled a cold smile that did not touch her eyes.

"Of course," the Ice Queen purred, glancing briefly at Catherine, who felt as though a live bunch of snakes had just been substituted for her intestines. "I am sure Sage would be honored to escort the Lady. Wouldn't you, dear?"

She turned her eyes on her eldest son, who met her gaze from along the table and inclined his head in assent as he rose slowly from his seat and walked across the space between the tables to stand before Catherine.

"A moment, Lady Mab!" Trinity spoke up then, her voice catching slightly as she rose halfway from her seat, fixing an imploring gaze on Oberon. "I am afraid Lord Oberon is escorting Lady Catherine this night."

"Ah, of course," said Titania, giving a tinkling laugh that sounded like icicles breaking, "Husband, won't you permit Prince Sage a dance with Lady Catherine? It would be a very good chance for the both of them. You wouldn't wish for Lady Catherine to simply sit by all this time with nothing to do, would you?"

She was giving Oberon a very deliberate look, and Trinity felt her throat close a little to see Oberon meet his wife's gaze with a kind of weary acceptance before he nodded and looked down to Catherine and Sage.

"Of course the Prince may dance with her," the Erkling said in his low voice, "So long as the Lady is willing to accept."

Because it was really an option, thought Trinity bitterly, doing her best not to glare at Oberon as the Erkling sank back in his seat, unconcerned, as he watched Sage offer his hand to Catherine, and Catherine looked slowly up at the Prince with a very pale expression.

"My Lady," Sage murmured, and she felt her chest constrict to the point of anguish as that familiar cadence flowed over her, winding its way around her heart, "Might I have the honor of this dance?"

She wanted to say no. She should have said no. But she knew if she did she'd be giving Titania exactly what she wanted, and she wasn't about to give the Faery Queen an excuse to turn her into a rabbit and set the wolves on her. It was just a dance, she told herself, not able to speak so merely nodding at Sage as she carefully lifted herself from her seat, doing her best not to trip over the hem of her long dress as she lifted a faintly trembling hand, hesitating for a split second before he lifted his hand to close his long fingers around hers. His touch was like an electric shock, immediately sending her blood flowing backwards through her veins so her head throbbed and her heart slammed into her ribs, driving all air from her lungs so for a moment everything was black, and she thought she had fainted. But then her vision returned, and she was gazing up into a pair of frosty emerald eyes as Sage drew her hand up to rest it on his arm, holding her other one between his strong, cool fingers. His other hand settled on her waist, pulling her towards him, and where his palm rested against her side she felt a whole was beginning to burn through her dress and sear her flesh.

Her heart was going a mile a minute in her chest, and she could scarcely breathe as she gazed up into the neutral gaze of the Winter Prince as he gave a cursory glance towards the orchestra, which struck up a slow, whimsical tune, and, taking the first step, he led the way into the dance. She wasn't even aware of her body moving of her own volition, but almost as a separate entity entirely, being pulled along on strings as she allowed Sage to lead her easily around the dance floor, his arm supporting her when she felt like her knees might give beneath her. Her stomach was roiling, making her head spin with nausea as she clung almost like a child to Sage's arm, attempting to keep herself grounded despite the feeling that if she were to let go she would either float through the air or sink through the floor into oblivion.

"Breathe," Sage murmured then, turning his emerald eyes down to her face, "You keep forgetting to breathe, my Lady…"

How could she hope to breathe with him so close? The memories she had carefully tucked away behind the barrier of her mind, deliberately forgetting to spare herself the pain, had finally burst free, as if through a broken dam, flooding her mind, and holding her breath was all she could do to keep from falling to the ground and screaming. It kept her stable, because staring into those ice green eyes was making her weak, and she could barely feel herself controlling her body, still being pulled along as though by a puppet master, and Sage was the one working her strings. She couldn't hope to breathe at all with him so close to her, bringing those painful memories she'd so desperately locked away back to the forefront of her mind. Even now, she could feel the softness of his mouth on hers, and the sweetness that still lingered on her tongue, and felt her stomach clench in painful knots as she struggled to keep herself standing and conscious.

"Breathe," he murmured again, bowing his head slightly so the coolness of his breath whispered across her cheek, making her shiver and her heart tremble in her chest. "What are you afraid of? Neither my mother nor brother can do you harm here."

"It's not them I'm scared of…" She heard the whisper without realizing immediately that it had come from her, but once she did, she wished she could take the words back, for the glimmer in Sage's eyes told her that he clearly understood what she was inferring, and she felt his hand around hers tighten a fraction of an inch, and his emerald gaze narrowed slightly down at her.

"Then what are you afraid of?" he asked in his soft voice, still speaking so his chilled breath rasped across her flushed cheeks, making her wish more than anything that she could break away from him and run, but that wasn't an option, not that she felt she could have broken away from his firm hold in the first place.

Looking up at him, feeling that familiar burning behind her eyes and biting hard on her tongue to keep them from making an unwanted appearance, Catherine did not answer his question, and merely gazed up at him, wishing for all the world that she had perfected the ability to disappear from sight, and even more so that she could do so without giving either Titania or Mab an excuse to bring all manner of hell on her for whatever disgrace or offense she might cause in doing so. But she had no choices left, despite all the times she had been told in the Nevernever, "There is always a choice". Well, it didn't feel like that right now, standing basically trapped in Sage's arms as he swept her easily across the marble dance floor. Right now, it felt like her own personal hell had been conjured into existence, and she had no way to escape.

"You didn't answer me," Sage murmured, lowering his head even further to his lips were almost against her skin, and she felt her breath catch harshly in her throat, her windpipes closing off suddenly as a tremendous chill spiraled down from the crown of her head down her back to her toes. "What are you afraid of, my Lady, if not the harm my mother or brother would cause you?"

She wouldn't answer him. She had already decided on it, and he couldn't make her. Not this time. He couldn't drug her and force answers out of her, or steal them from her lips, not without severe repercussions. She was safe from him…at least, as far as that went. Anything else was distinctly uncertain, and as she continued to gaze up into Sage's eyes, doing her utmost best not to let her fear win out over her will and force her to look away, she felt her heart begin to pound erratically as his eyes narrowed even further, clearly expressing his disapproval.

"You won't answer me?" he asked her quietly, drawing back to look straight into her shimmering jade eyes.

"Are you going to force me to?" she asked, her voice shaking and breathless.

She felt him tense under her hands, though he never once faltered in the dance, and his hands seemed to grip at her even more tightly than before as he twirled her and dipped her to the floor, bringing his face within mere inches of her own.

"No," he murmured as he drew her back up and continued to whisk her around the room, "I will not force you, this time."

This time, she thought, surprised at the bitterness and anger that rose up so suddenly like bile in her mouth so she had to swallow it back down before it could take the form of words. She found herself biting down on her tongue again, and her fingers curling to form a fist in the silken cloth of his sleeve, which he did not miss.

"Would it be wrong to assume that you are afraid of me?" the Prince asked in his soft voice.


	21. Chapter 21

She didn't answer, looking straight at his chest, trying to keep her lower lip from trembling, or her hands from shaking in his grip, but it didn't seem to make any difference. He could see right through her as easily as if she was made of the finest glass, and he could break her just as easily, too, if he wanted. She didn't know if he knew that, but given the way he seemed to draw her so close into his arms that her body brushed up against his, and she had to fight hard to keep a whimper of alarm from coming out of her mouth, he did, though she figured the way she sucked in her breath was just as much a giveaway as the first would have been.

"So that is a yes," he murmured quietly into her ear, having lowered his head again so she felt the silken brush of his ebony hair against her face as it slid over his shoulder. "I guess I should not be too surprised that you still seem to cling to the memories of what has come to pass between us, though why you would continue to cling to such trivial things is something entirely beyond me. There is no value in those memories. And what is in the past is in the past. Why do you continue to linger in it?"

Because it had become part of her, and it was part of her present. If it weren't for what had happened in the past, she wouldn't be wishing that the present would quickly turn to the future, where the dance would end and she could break away from him. She had thought she could suppress the memories of the past with him, no matter how meaningless they might seem to anyone else if they were to rifle through them. To anyone else, what they had exchanged might seem like nothing more than the favor he had decided to name it, but she had always known it would take a piece of her with it when she gave it to him, that seemingly insignificant kiss. What she hadn't known, however, was just how hard it would be to see that piece of herself embodied in him when he stood before her again, or how agonizing it would be to feel that piece of her so close, yet so far away; irretrievable. She hadn't anticipated the pain that came with such close proximity to a missing part of one's self…she'd been stupid again.

"You really refuse to answer me," sighed Sage, sounding resigned as he dipped her again. "That is becoming very irritating."

She bit down hard on her tongue, nearly tasting blood as she cut against the skin, to keep herself from answering him. She knew the words in her mind would only become angry and violent when they emerged, and she had no desire to rouse the anger of Mab if she misspoke to her son, and therein again laid the issue of Titania's desperation to see her trip over herself, and she wasn't going to give either of the Bitch Queens the satisfaction of making herself a target, though, locked in Sage's arms, feeling the subtle warmth of his strong form against hers, she already felt like she had several enormous targets on her back. Titania's gaze was ever present, a glowing set of icy cold blue orbs staring down at her, waiting for her to falter, to make her prey. And Mab's pitch black eyes held all the mercilessness of a blizzard in their depths, and when Catherine made the mistake of glancing at the Winter Queen as Sage spun them around the very edge of the dance floor, near to the high table, she felt as though her heart had been frozen into an icy stone as the Ice Monarch stared down with the eyes of death at her. She might not have the same consciously malicious intent as Titania, but she had never been Catherine's biggest fan, and seeing her former prisoner embraced in the arms of her eldest son would do nothing to endear her any further.

"I am getting tired of this, half-blood," sighed Sage, snapping her from her reverie as he spun her away then back into his waiting arms. "Your silence is grating on my nerves, not to mention you do not seem to have the decency to look me in the eyes since I started questioning you."

"Sorry to disappoint you," she whispered back, grinding her teeth into her cheek to keep from looking up and glaring openly at him, though she didn't manage to keep the venom that was injected into her tone.

Sage glanced down at her, the surprise evident in his eyes as he cocked an eyebrow at her, but Catherine didn't notice, as she was much too relieved as the final strains of the orchestra floated through the air, and the dance finally came to a close. Gasping a small breath of relief, she snatched her hand from his, trying not to be too obviously eager to escape him, though she felt she ruined that subtle effect as she put both hands to his chest and started to push him away, trying to step back in unison with the action. He wasn't ready to let her sneak away that quickly, however, and just as she was stepping away he grabbed both of her hands in his, his fingers becoming manacles around her wrists, keeping her immobile.

"The dance is over," she whispered, not looking up as she tugged at her hands, trying to break his grip to no avail.

"The dance is just beginning," he murmured back, and suddenly the orchestra struck back up in full swing as yet more dancing couples swept onto the floor from the tables full of the nobility. "And I am not finished talking to you, half-blood."

"Let go," she hissed, feeling panic building in her chest, but he was already pulling her back, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"Would you prefer I let you push me away and offer an insult to your Lord and Lady as well as my mother the Queen?"

Catherine froze, her eyes darting back to the high table to see Titania narrowing her eyes in a kind of savage glee, as the Summer Queen could very easily see Catherine making attempts to break away from Sage as other couples swarmed the dance floor around them. As for Mab, the Queen was deep in conversation with Oberon, and not quite so observant, but that didn't mean someone else of power at the table wasn't keeping an eye on them in her stead. Rowan's ice blue eyes met her eyes, and the younger Winter Prince's lips curved in a lazy, self-satisfied smirk as he gazed down at her, chin propped up on his hand. She looked away quickly, feeling nauseous, and allowed Sage to pull her back to him, placing her hand obediently on his arm again and fighting back tears as he swept across the floor again, noticing that, in spite of the increased numbers of dancers on the floor, the circle of space around them never crowded, leaving them quite alone in their own little area.

"That was blackmail," she whispered shakily to Sage, closing her eyes as she felt tears burning just in the corners of her eyes.

"You could have said no," he told her quietly, sounding indifferent.

"I didn't really have a choice, did I?" she shot back at him, feeling her anger flare briefly.

"There is always a choice," he murmured. "You merely chose the path of self-preservation."

Catherine didn't answer, feeling her stomach shriveling up inside of her, and her heart giving that painful squeeze in her chest that was slowly starting to become commonplace the longer she stood with him. He was holding her close than he should be again, and she felt it was just his tactic of making her as unsettled and uncomfortable as possible in the hopes of getting yet more answers from her, as seemed to be his priority. But being so close was starting to add a whole new level of pain to her already aching heart, as clichéd as that might have sounded, even just in her mind, and she just wanted to let go and run away. But that wasn't an option, no matter what he said. There were no options.

"Why are you doing this?" she whispered after a long moment of silent dancing.

"Doing what?" he murmured back quietly, his emerald eyes looking down at her, completely neutral, though her arched a slender brow inquiringly.

"You know what," she snapped back, momentarily losing her patience in spite of herself.

"Do I now?" he asked, sounding faintly amused. "I would assume you are referring to this seemingly undesired contact, and how I have apparently forced you to endure being in my presence. You know, half-blood, this is easily solved. All I require are answers."

She shook her head, keeping her eyes tightly shut, feeling the tears threatening to break through her defense.

"No," she breathed.

"Then I imagine we shall be here quite a while," Sage murmured, twirling her under his arm. "And I am prepared to dance all night if necessary, my Lady. Are you?"

"You can't do that," she whispered, terrified, her eyes snapping open to stare up into Sage's impassive emerald ones.

He smiled a very small, almost sarcastic smile and his emerald eyes seemed to darken.

"You seem to underestimate the abilities of what I, as a Winter Prince, am capable of doing," he murmured very softly, his voice holding a subtly concealed threat, "If I so cared to, I could have any woman in this room brought to me on her knees. What makes you think I cannot demand that you dance with me for the duration of this night? And would you really risk the fury of any of our rulers if I was to demand such a thing and you were to deny me?"

"Why would you do that?" she asked, feeling the tears pricking at her eyes, knowing he could see them, knowing she was powerless to stop them.

"Because I want answers," he said simply. "It's very easy to give me what I want, my Lady. You are only prolonging the inevitable and making the situation much more difficult than it needs to be. I have only asked why you are afraid, and why you would fear me of all the people in this room that could do you harm."

"And I don't want to answer you," she said in a trembling voice. "So forget it…"

"You are becoming ridiculously stubborn on the matter," sighed the Winter Prince, narrowing his eyes down at her, and she winced as she glanced up into his frosty emerald gaze.

"Losing your patience?" she asked, knowing she shouldn't taunt him, but unable to help herself.

"Hardly," he murmured back. "But, as I said, my Lady, I am fully prepared to wait out this night. Do you think you can as well? After all, it is not so hard to see from this vantage point that you are still very much buried in the memories of a mere two weeks ago."

Why did he seem to have the skilled ability to drive daggers into her heart without so much as breaking a sweat about it? And why had he had to see straight through her like that? She hated that…she hated that he could look right into her soul like he knew everything about her, as easily as if she'd written it out for him to read in the morning paper.

"So, what are you saying?" she questioned him in a tear filled voice, looking down at his chest, fighting tears with all of her might, her face drained of all color so she was almost as pale as he was, only where he looked like some angelic being sent to torment her, she looked near-death. "Is that your way of saying if I don't tell you what you want to know, you'll seduce me into telling you?"

"It wouldn't exactly be a difficult feat," he responded softly, and she felt the answer as though it had been a shock straight to her heart. "You are, after all, incredibly susceptible to me. That much is obvious. And, I am going to assume that you are still very much in the same mindset that you were two weeks ago."

"And what mindset would that be?" she asked.

Sage's lips turned up slightly at the corners in a smile, though there was no warmth or amusement in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her bowed head, only a cold, calculating kind of knowing. Inclining his head to hers, his lips brushing the top of her copper colored head, a feather light touch she felt all the way to her very core, he whispered against her temple,

"That you are in love with me."

Another stab straight into her heart, another wrenching blow that left her with diamond tears shimmering in her eyes, though, with her head bowed, she doubted anyone would see, and she wouldn't really want them to in any case. However, she should really have known better than to think no one would notice…but she had momentarily forgotten two very important people in the room.

Nikki and Trinity had been all but stranded at their table for the past few minutes in which they had both been attentively watching as Sage danced with Catherine, first as the only couple to command the dance floor, and now as the main focus of attention in their own circle of space in spite of the crowd now swarming the marble floor. In that time, Trinity had felt her unease slowly building and building the longer she watched her friend caught in the arms of the Winter Prince, especially when she had easily been able to see that at the end of the first dance Catherine had tried to get away, but Sage had prevented her. She'd watched the Prince whisper something to her friend, and though she had had no hope of hearing the words, she had the very distinct impression it had been a form of blackmail, because Catherine had stopped her bids for freedom after that, and was now permitting the Prince to continue twirling her idly across the floor. Nikki had also taken note of this, and the entire time her stomach been done up in painful knots, and her hand, which was nestled in the palm of Puck's, had clenched down until her knuckles almost turned white, and though Puck had occasionally winced, he did not reprimand her, and merely brushed his thumb over her hand, trying to silently comfort her. Though he was just as on edge as she was as he watched Sage and Catherine on the dance floor, his emerald eyes narrowed and thoughtful.

"Something's wrong," Nikki whispered suddenly, and tightened her hand a fraction tighter about his fingers.

"Are you sure?" Puck murmured, though he felt he really shouldn't have had to ask that.

"Really wrong," Nikki confirmed with a small nod, her chocolate eyes narrowing towards the dance floor as Catherine faced her for the briefest moment as she was twirled out from Sage. "She hasn't been looking up since the second dance started…"

"She might not want to look at him after whatever he said," Puck suggested very quietly.

"No," said Nikki, and a deep frown appeared on her face and she started to rise from her seat. "No, it's not just that. Something is really wrong, Puck. I need to get her."

Puck believed Nikki when she said it, though at the moment as he watched Sage and Catherine he himself couldn't really notice anything unusual aside from Catherine's noted reluctance to face the Prince, but Nikki had a sense he did not, as Catherine's friend of nearly a decade. She was going to notice things he wouldn't, and he had to trust her. Unfortunately, he also had to be the voice of reason.

"We can't just rush out there, Nikki," he said, taking his turn to grip her hand more tightly when she would have yanked it away and made a dash for Catherine. "We don't have anything to go on in front of everyone else, and it would be a huge problem if we went out there and split them up, especially if Sage is the one keeping her there. It means he wants to be there, and she is required to be there, and going out there to separate them is just going to throw all kinds of gasoline on the fire and Mab isn't going to be happy. And I get the feeling Titania is waiting for Cat to screw up, or for one of us to screw up by helping her, just to have an excuse to fuck us all over."

"But," Nikki turned to stare at him, her dark eyes imploring him, bright with fear, "She's in trouble, Puck, real trouble. I can tell. I can't just sit here and let her be stuck with him if he's hurting her!"

"I know, Nikki, and I'm not asking you to," he told her fervently, keeping a tight grip on her arm, "What I'm asking you to do is let me go take care of this in such a fashion that we'll all have our heads in their correct places, and so that Catherine doesn't get the short end of the stick and end up on Titania's shit list."

Nikki hesitated as she realized the sensibility in his words, though she still felt the itching in her to jump up as she caught sight of Catherine's face again. Her stomach dissolved. _Catherine was in tears…_

"Just hurry, Puck, I'm begging you, she's crying," Nikki hissed at the faery, staring towards her friend and barely keeping her seat.

Puck nodded once at her, gave her hand a brief, reassuring squeeze, then rose from his seat and proceeded quickly down from the table, heading for the dance floor. Nikki caught her breath, praying silently that she was about to witness Puck be heroic and step right in between her friend and the Prince and sweep Catherine out of harm's way, but she was disappointed a second later when the Summer faery swept right past the pair and continued towards one of the farther tables.

"Robin, what are you doing?" Nikki whispered, watching anxiously as the red headed fey glanced along the length of the table, searching for something. She could feel herself practically bouncing her seat with anxiety as he moved rapidly along the length of the table, his emerald gaze fixed unmoving on his target.

Nikki tried to follow the path of his eyes, but couldn't tell just where he was angling for, and began to chew hard on her lower lip, trying to fight down her anxiety as she glanced between where Puck was making his way along the tables to where Catherine was still being held in the imprisoning grip of Prince Sage.

"Hurry up," she whispered, glancing back at Puck again in time to see the fiery haired faery practically screech to a halt in front of a Summer sidhe who was deep in conversation with the bearded sidhe at his side.

As Puck waved a hand hurriedly at the Summer fey, however, the snowy haired noble paused in the middle of his conference to raise electric blue eyes to the jester's anxious, pleading face as Puck leaned forward to murmur inaudibly to him. Nikki stared at the pair of them as the white haired sidhe inclined his head even more in Puck's direction, his equally white brows turning down in a severe line as his striking gaze swept the floor to fixate on the singular spot where Sage and Catherine were still whirling in time to the music of the fey orchestra. He murmured something back to Puck, who shook his head curtly, and after a few more brief seconds of hushed conversation Sonata rose from his seat, swept around the edge of the table, and, after pausing merely to place a hand on Puck's shoulder and whisper into the fey's ear, he slipped away towards the dance floor. The crowds of dancers parted before him as he disappeared into their midst, and Nikki strained for a moment to keep track of his snowy head before she found herself much more interested in Puck as the Summer faery came speed walking back towards the table, his emerald eyes shimmering with triumph as he all but hopped back into his seat and flashed her a broad grin.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, immediately seizing his hand as he reached out to her, and he gave her his trademark wink.

"I was lucky he was willing to help," he told her, leaning his head in towards her as they both turned their attention back towards the dance floor, just able to catch sight of Sonata's shimmering snow white hair as he slipped between a set of couples twirling magnificently on the edge of the dance floor. "Though, we'll be lucky if he can make Sage give up his dance with Catherine."

"What happens if Sage tells him no?" Nikki whispered then, feeling her temporary surge of relief become immediately overshadowed by a wave of unease.

"I don't know," Puck admitted with a small frown at her, "But I'd imagine that, given how anxious Sonata was when I brought up the issue, he'll insist on cutting in. You've got to remember he cares about Catherine about as much as we do. He was her imaginary Prince Charming, after all. I'm pretty sure he realizes now is his moment to come sweeping in to rescue the fair maiden, even if he has to do it without a horse."

"There's just a small problem with your plan," a voice murmured, and Nikki turned her head rapidly to see Trinity standing behind her chair, her sapphire eyes wide with anxiety as she also stared towards the floor. "If Sage says no, and Sonata insists, that's going to catch everyone's attention in a split second. Not to mention Sage is a prince, and Sonata isn't."

"And what does that matter?" demanded Nikki.

"That if Sonata tells Sage to give up the dance," Puck murmured, his emerald eyes narrowing to mere slits as he focused them on the dance floor, "And Sage doesn't want to, that it'll go down about as well as a mouse telling a cat to give up the cheese."

"Then what's the hope of it?" Nikki felt ill again, and Puck felt like he might never feel his fingers again if she didn't loosen up on his hand.

"Just sit and see," he told her, gently patting her hand with his free one, at the same time discreetly trying to ease her death grip just enough to let a few blood drops into his veins. "Sonata might not be a prince, but he is a knight. And no self-respecting knight would ever leave his lady fair out among the wolves."

"I hope you're right," Nikki murmured, barely noticing the faery's attempts to restore circulation to his hands. Trinity didn't speak, but she was thinking the exactly the same thing as she watched—throat dry with fear—as Sonata finally drew level with Sage and Catherine and tapped the Winter Prince smartly on the shoulder.

"Pardon me, sire," Sonata murmured, electric blue eyes just barely narrowed as Sage turned curiously towards him. "Might I cut in? The lady had earlier promised me a dance, you see, and I was hoping to collect."

"Is that so?" Sage asked, his eyebrows shooting up, though he did pause, mid-step.

"Yes," murmured Sonata, and there was the subtlest warning in his voice. "Not to mention I believe the lady has had quite enough of you, if I might be so brazen as to suggest. Or perhaps you would care to tell me her tears are from the sheer joy of dancing with your highness."

It was Sage's turn to narrow his icy emerald eyes at Sonata, who did not so much as flinch under the bitterly cold stare of the Winter sidhe, and merely stood there expectantly, his eyes traveling only once to Catherine's face, which, as she stared desperately up at him, was streaked with sparkling tears. Sonata let a soft smile touch his face as he gazed back at her, reassurance in his lightning blue eyes, before a movement from Sage had him bringing his attention straight back to the man before him, who was contemplating him through thoughtful emerald eyes.

"You fancy the lady, knight?" Sage asked in a very low voice, and Sonata's eyes flashed. "Ah…I see…"

"I hardly think you do, sire," murmured Sonata in his soft voice, his tone even, though his eyes fairly burned with warning as he stared hard at the Prince, "The Lady and I have a promise between us, and, as my oaths of knighthood state, I am to offer my assistance to a Lady in distress, and I sincerely doubt that this young woman is shedding tears out of anything but the sheer disgust of being imprisoned here by you."

A soft gasp escaped Catherine; shock clear on her face as she stared up at Sonata, completely horrified by the words he had just spoken to Sage. The Winter Prince seemed to have similar feelings, though he kept them under much better wraps, his expression only flickering with disbelief for a split second before shutting off completely, though a small, humorless smile touched his mouth as he released Catherine, only to turn and fully face the Summer knight before him, who held his ground as Sage stepped forward so they were toe to toe.

"I admire your gall, knight," the Prince said, his voice carrying all the ice of winter in it, though his expression was well composed, "Though I would advise you to take care of how you address me the next time we encounter each other. Very well, you may have your dance with the Lady. Perhaps she will find comfort in the arms of Oberon's knave."

He said the last word with the closest thing to contempt one could get without letting too much emotion inject itself into his tone, and with a brief nod to Sonata, and a small bow to Catherine, who was standing just to the side, staring between the two males, Sage took his leave of them, not once glancing back. Sonata watched the Ice Prince walk away, careful to keep him in his peripherals until he had assured himself that Sage had resumed his proper place at the table on Mab's right hand, before turning to Catherine with a small sigh, his hard expression melting away until she could see nothing but concern in his gaze as he stepped forward to gently take her hand.

"Are you alright, my Lady?" he asked her quietly, not making a move to dance with her, but simply standing there and staring down into her over bright jade eyes as she stared back. "I would have come sooner, but I didn't realize anything was the matter until Robin Goodfellow came to tell me you were in need of me."

_Puck…_

Catherine glanced up towards the table where Puck was sitting with Nikki, and saw that Trinity had also joined them, standing between the other two. All three of them were looking in her direction, their expression identical masks of fear and concern, though she could also detect relief in the way that Nikki and Trinity tried to smile, though neither girl quite managed the effort as well as they had probably intended. Puck didn't even try to smile, but gave her a small nod of reassurance, his emerald eyes glowing with the kind of concern she had grown up seeing in her elder brother's eyes. Feeling a new flood of tears as her gratitude nearly overwhelmed her, and the guilt for not thinking her friends would realize she was in trouble, she quickly ducked her hand, lifting a hand to cover her eyes and biting down hard on her lip to fight back the urge to sob.

"My Lady."

Sonata's voice was clearly concerned, and she felt an arm circle her shoulders, drawing her away from the dance floor. She leaned into the Summer knight, trying her hardest to stifle her sobs, but the tears that managed to escape were clue enough for Sonata, and as he ushered her into a chair on a far table that was, for the most part, deserted, he frowned and drew a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

"This is no good," he murmured, genuflecting and reaching up to gently dab at her tear streaked face as she continued to struggle with her very precarious hold on self control. "Forgive me, my Lady, I had told you I would be here if you had need of me, but I wasn't able to protect you."

Catherine tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she almost choked on a sob, and settled for shaking her head in vehement denial. It hadn't been his fault, not at all. How could he hope to protect her from a danger she hadn't told him about? Besides, she hadn't meant for him to have to rescue her. She had fully intended that she would handle herself tonight, thinking, foolishly, that she'd be able to stand being close to Sage, or even in the same room with him, but that had been the stupidest thing she'd ever conceived of. Even now, though she was practically on the opposite side of the room from the Winter Prince, and was no longer trapped in his arms, she could easily feel his arms around her as surely as if he were still dancing with her. And her cheek still tingled from where his breath had whispered across it. Her hand and side fairly burned from his light touch, and behind her now closed eyelids she could see his emerald eyes, like chips of ice, staring back at her, just like in her nightmares. Judging her…

"It's not your fault," she whispered to Sonata, finally able to get control of her voice, but not quite able to keep the horrible trembling out of it, "You didn't know…I didn't tell you…"

"Then, please, my Lady, tell me now," Sonata implored her, dropping his hand from brushing her tears away to circle her fingers with his own, "Tell me what he has done to hurt you and I swear I will—"

"No," she whispered, feeling terror strike her dead in the heart, and her eyes snapped open to stare into Sonata's startled blue ones. "No, you can't…!"

"My Lady," Sonata's voice lowered, and his eyes narrowed to slits of electric blue, "If he has threatened you…"

"No, he hasn't," she whispered, shaking her head, resisting the nearly overwhelming urge to glance up towards the main table. Only the fear of what she might see on either Titania's or Rowan's face, or even on Sage's, kept her from doing so. "He didn't threaten me…I just…I lost control of myself…"

It wasn't a lie; it just wasn't the whole truth either. And Sonata seemed to know that, for his expression was clearly disbelieving as he looked up at her from his kneeling position on the ground. His fingers tightened on hers when she would have pulled her hand away from him, and he lifted his other to brush a thumb across her cheek, wiping away a rogue tear.

"Catherine," he said softly, and she felt her stomach twist, "I know you can't confide in me the same way that you used to, but I made a vow of loyalty to you all those years ago, and I still stand by it. Even if the inferences of the contract are not the same, I am still sworn to stand by your side and to protect you. Even if that means going against your wishes to discover the truth, I am obliged to do so to keep you safe and your dignity intact."

His words struck her to the core, as potent as a strike of lightning, and as she gazed down at him, totally thrown out of balance by the depth and severity held in those simple words, she felt the iron bars that had wrapped themselves around her heart since the encounter with Sage tighten even further, nearly robbing her of breath as she fought the agony in her chest.

"That was…" she tried to say, but her throat was too dry. She swallowed hard and tried again, "That was a long time ago…I was just a kid…You don't have to stand by that oath."

"I want to," he said quietly, his electric blue eyes burning so intensely she almost had to look away. "I was fey then and I am fey now. If I had not wanted to make that oath—no matter how innocent it might have seemed to you then—I would not have made it. I would have found a way around it, but I wanted to make the oath then, and I desire to keep it now. Because of that, I will continue to stand by your side. But, my Lady, we can debate the consequences of childish naivety at a later time. Right now, my duty is to ensure that whatever disgrace the Winter Prince has caused you is repaid."

"He didn't," she began, but Sonata glared at her and she cut off, startled.

"Please do not lie to me, my Lady," he told her very quietly.

"I'm not," she whispered, a little hurt by his mistrust.

"Then do not attempt to dance around the truth as you have taken to doing," he murmured, "Leave that to Robin Goodfellow."

"He didn't do anything, Sonata," she said, feeling a small jolt of frustration as the Summer noble continued to stare at her intently. "I'm serious, he didn't…I just lost control of myself…"

"You wouldn't lose control of yourself for no reason," Sonata said, still apparently not sold on her excuses.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, managing to inject a firm note into her voice, despite how she could feel herself coming apart inside. She was about to break down again, and she didn't want to be in public when it happened. She'd been lucky enough to get away practically unnoticed with her little scene on the dance floor. "I'm sorry, Sonata, but I just don't want to talk about it…"

Sonata was quiet, and she could see, looking into his eyes, the barely-there glimmer of hurt in his eyes as he realized she was pushing him aside, and she felt a deep wrenching in her stomach as guilt flooded her. She didn't want to push him away, she just wasn't about to drag him into the middle of her problems. She should be able to handle it on her own, and she felt so helpless and useless to realize she couldn't…at least not yet. She shouldn't have to rely on Sonata to help her with something so trivial as her broken emotions…

"I'm sorry," she whispered, slipping her hand away from his and rising from her seat, "I just…I need to be alone for a minute…"

She stepped around him, he made no move to stop her, and hurried for the archway leading out of the great hall, fighting the urge to run from the room, and biting so hard on her lower lip that she could taste the blood welling up in her mouth as she fought back tears. She felt horrible, for so many reasons they were almost impossible to count. She'd told herself she'd be able to handle herself tonight, and that had fallen through without so much as a safety net to catch her. She'd nearly had a breakdown on the dance floor, before Oberon and all, and Sonata had come to her rescue at Puck's warning that she was in need of the knight. Now she'd pushed him away when he had been doing nothing more than trying to help her. He'd sworn to stand by the childhood vow he'd made her when she was six years old, and he had no intention of letting it go.

Well, she thought miserably, turning sharply down a hall, heading for the courtyard, maybe he'd reconsider now, since she'd gone and pushed him out of the way. He wasn't the first person she'd done it to in the past few weeks, like Nikki and Trinity, and Demon, and he probably wouldn't be the last before this was all over and done with. And that was what she hated the most, pushing people away. People who had promised to be there for her through thick and thin, no matter what, even if they didn't have the fey oath to bind them, and who had continued to be there through all the hell she'd managed to put herself through, and here she was dusting them off like so much filth, trying to deal with it all on her own.

If she'd been a real friend, if she'd really cared, she would have told them by now, at least Nikki and Trinity, if no one else, but she hadn't even had the decency to do that. And she loathed it… Especially when she considered that, before Sage, before Nevernever, she wouldn't have hesitated for a second to go seek out her friends for help and support, and now she'd spent the past month basically lying to them. Yeah, she was some great friend…just a right chum. The tears were flowing freely now, and she had finally broken into a run, though she wondered in the back of her mind just how wise an idea it was to run while half blinded by tears, but she didn't particularly care too much if she ended up tripping. She just wanted to get away…

"I hate this," she choked, wiping angrily at the tears in her eyes and gasping in relief to see that she had finally come to the front entrance, where she would find the courtyard just beyond.

Quickening her pace, nearly tripping over the hem of her dress, she dashed the last few steps and reached out her hands to shove at the door, which opened with a soft whistling creaking sound, freeing her from the confines of the castle. She ran out, into the moonlit courtyard, gasping deep breaths of Summer air as she stumbled into the almost silent garden, blinking tears out of her jade eyes as she looked around, finding she was alone, and that was fine with her. She'd come here meaning to be alone…

Gasping still, sobs occasionally punctuating her breaths, she moved slowly across the open yard, still wiping pathetically at the tears in her eyes, until she stood before one of the many bubbling fountains that littered the place, and sank down onto the marble edge of it, dropping her face into her hands and allowing her sobs to take full control of her.

Her shoulders began to shake, and her entire body trembled as she cried openly, feeling the hot tears searing against her skin as she hunched over, curling in on herself. Her heart throbbed and ached in her chest, so painful at one point that she clutched at it with a hand, trying to press down and stifle the agony, but not managing to do more than remind herself that no matter what she did it would continue to ache and hurt. She'd done that to herself… If she'd been smarter, just a little bit wiser, she wouldn't have ended up like this, pining after a man who wouldn't look twice at her for anything but answers, and shoving away the friends she'd held dear for so long while they struggled to find just what was wrong, still trying to help her despite all the worry and pain she knew she had caused them.

Why had she become like this? Maybe she'd always been this way, she thought, it just hadn't manifested until now, since her own fey genetics were slowly mixing in. After all, hadn't she heard that Cait Sith couldn't love? Maybe her love for her friends had been a stupid human illusion that she'd managed to conjure up during her life as a human in the Mortal Realm, and now that she was here, among the fey, her Cait Sith blood was finally waking up, and waking her up to the reality that she couldn't have friends. Having friends required loving, and if she couldn't love, then wouldn't it be a lie to have friends?

"I hate this," she whispered again, Nikki's and Trinity's faces swimming before her eyes. "I hate this so much…I should have just stayed home…"

"Oh, now, whatever is the matter?" The voice that spoke so gently scared her more than anything, and she jerked her head up immediately, swinging around to the source of the sound.

A shadow lingered just out of sight nearby her, hidden by the overhanging branches of a nearby willow, though she thought she could make out the soft gleam of hazel eyes watching her attentively from between the dangling strands of leaves. She couldn't tell anything about it, other than it was rather short, not quite as tall as her, but that didn't mean anything. Size didn't matter when something wanted to hurt you…and she didn't trust anyone who had managed to sneak up on her like she had been.

"Who—who are you?" she stammered out, rising quickly to her feet, wiping at her tears and keeping one eye on the shadow as it shifted just barely in the darkness.

"A friend," the voice said softly, and she felt a jolt as the shadow moved forward with a soft clopping sound, like hooves striking the leaf carpeted ground, and a moment later she was staring into the young, concerned face of a satyr as he ambled towards her, his hazel eyes trained on her face.

Her heart went straight to her throat as she gazed back at the satyr, who offered a friendly smile, raking a hand carelessly through his short cropped black hair, his horns sticking up from his bangs, and she nearly tripped over herself as she took several rapid steps away from him.

"Oh, don't be afraid," he said, putting his hands out to her, as though to show he meant no harm, "I won't hurt you. I just heard you sounding so sad and thought you might like some company. Come, sit with me, talk."

Pretty words, she thought, her stomach turning in knots as she continued to retreat from the goat-man, who continued his slow approach towards her. Satyrs were nothing more than promiscuous, sex-addicted fiends and they would do anything to get what they wanted, and Catherine would sooner die than let herself become a victim.

"I need to get back," she said, trying to sound firm when she was really choking on fear. "A friend is waiting for me."

Briefly she wondered just what friend would wait for her when she came back, then shook off the painful thought as Sonata's, Nikki's and Trinity's face crossed her mind's eye and turned her full attention back to the satyr, who was still smiling, though the friendliness that had once been there was gone. In its place she could see the glint of lust and eagerness as she continued to step away from him, and he stepped closer.

"Stay a while," he invited her, and glamour shimmered around him for a moment, showing her a handsome young fey with flowing blond hair and sparkling violet eyes, his hand outstretched towards her, beckoning. "Please. I can make you happy again."

She shook her head firmly, forcing herself to see past the glamour to the satyr, who was still closing in, and when she glanced around, trying to determine who quickly she could reach the door before he could catch her, she felt her throat close to see he was no longer alone. Three satyrs lounged in the entrance way, smiling at her, their eyes burning hungrily, and, alerted by a soft clopping to her right, she turned and found herself staring at two more satyrs, who, along with the first, were beginning to corral her into a corner of the courtyard. Fear became a living thing in her, and her entire body began to tremble as she finally felt her back hit a leafy wall, and the satyrs formed a loose semi-circle around her, the leader in front of her, smiling.

"Don't be afraid," he crooned at her, and his companions chuckled darkly, "We promise, we'll be gentle. And you won't have to cry anymore."

She was beyond tears at this point, and was staring desperately around the circle, looking for an escape route, anything to get away, but there was nothing. The satyrs were already closing ranks, cutting off any loose holes she might think of running through, and she felt her stomach drop straight to her toes as the leader came even nearer, not even seven feet away, a lustful gleam in his hazel eyes.

She tried to scream, but her voice had died, and her mind was a whirling blur of chaotic thought and terror as she pressed herself as far back into the wall behind her as she could, her heart slamming hard into her chest as the lead satyr smiled greedily at her, his eyes raking her body. She just wanted to vanish, to disappear…evaporate into nothing.

A spark went off in her mind, and she let a small gasp escape as realization hit her with the force of a freight train. She'd been stupid. What had Demon been training her for all this time before now? She could vanish, evaporate, even, but would she able to evaporate far enough? Thirty feet was her max… She glanced around the circle of advancing satyrs, the leader now four feet away, close enough to reach out and grab her. His companions were further off, almost ten feet off…It would be enough.

She closed her eyes, reaching for her glamour as the lead satyr lifted a hand, reaching for her arm, and as the bright colors rose to engulf her she drew it tightly around her, and pushed. She felt her body shimmer, almost like a tremor running all throughout her, and for a moment her feet left the ground as the earth dropped away, no longer able to bind her, and then she was on the ground again, her feet touching down and she heard the satyrs gasp in unified shock.

"Where did she go?!" one of them yelled as she opened her eyes and looked around to see them all staring stupidly at the spot where she had been. She quickly ducked behind a tree before they could turn and discover her, gasping with a trembling hand pressed to her mouth in an attempt to muffle the sound.

"Damn," hissed another, and she heard a flurry of clopping as the herd spread out, searching for her. "She might have evaporated right back into the castle!"

"No, she's still here," insisted another, sounding like the leader. "I can smell her here…Come out, little flower, we're not going to hurt you. We just want to make you happy again. Don't you want to be happy?"

Catherine didn't answer, pressing herself into the shadows of the willow she'd taken cover behind, almost holding her breath as she heard the satyrs moving around, hunting for her. Some of them called out to her, their voices gentle and almost concerned, but she did not answer, and instead hid in the shadows, praying they would give up and leave. But something in her gut told her they wouldn't…they would keep looking…and they would find her…

She closed her eyes tightly, fighting tears again as she heard a satyr move very close to her hiding place, his crooning voice calling out to her, coaxing her to show herself so he could show her true happiness. She wanted to make herself invisible, but she was already exhausted, and she felt she was too emotionally unbalanced right now to manage more than a flickering few seconds of invisibility. Her best bet was to stay where she was, completely still, and hope they didn't spot her, and moved further into the courtyard so she could escape back into the castle.

"Ah," a voice murmured then, and she opened her jade eyes, glancing around, and feeling her heart stop beating to see an auburn haired satyr staring right at her, just four feet away, with a triumphant smile on his face, "Hello, flower…"

She bolted, not stopping to give him the chance to get nearer, but as she dashed from the shelter of the tree, she felt a hand seize her firmly by the arm, and, looking around, she found herself staring into the hazel eyes of the lead satyr.

"There you are, flower," he said, tightening his grip when she tried to pull away, "My, my, if you wanted to play a game, you should have told us sooner. We love to play games, don't we, boys?"

The other satyrs were circling up again, this time forming a tight ring around her and their leader as she struggled to get away, lashing out to kick him in the gut so he grunted and doubled over gagging. She tried to run, but was immediately seized by two other satyrs and thrown back into the center of the circle.

"No more running away, pretty," sneered the leader, getting his breath back and seizing her, using his superior strength to throw her to the ground.

She felt her dress tear, and the ground scraped up her arms and palms as she tried to catch herself. The satyrs were laughing as the leader loomed over her, his hazel eyes glinting lustfully.

She wanted to scream, but her voice had gone again, and she could only stare up in terror as the leader and the others closed in, reaching out to seize her arms, pawing at her ruined dress. Tears gathered in her eyes as she kicked out again, but missed, and a satyr pinned her ankle to the ground. This was it, she thought, she was about to be raped by a bunch of satyrs…and she had thought her night had already suffered the worst violation…

"Now, don't cry, flower," crooned a satyr by her head, his breath hot and disgusting against her cheek. "We promise, we'll be good."

"Or you'll be dead," purred a soft voice, menace dripping from every syllable, and the air around her suddenly dropped ten degrees and the satyrs stopped tearing at her clothes to turn wide, terrified eyes towards a figure approaching slowly from the main entrance.

"P-Prince Rowan!" squeaked the leader, and the other satyrs immediately relinquished their hold on Catherine, leaving her on the ground as they retreated, bowing low to the Winter Prince as he towered above them.

Rowan smiled down at the herd, but there was no kindness in his ice blue eyes as he gazed at them, and Catherine felt her blood chill to see the pure malevolence glowing in the cerulean depths. The Prince idly palmed the hilt of his sword, as though contemplating drawing it, as he cocked his head at the satyrs.

"I am going to count to five," he said, still in that velvety murmur that sent chills running down Catherine's spine, "And any one of you who hasn't managed to disappear by then will be very, very sorry…One…"

The satyrs fled, scrambling over each other to clear out before Rowan could finish counting, squealing in fear and terror as they tripped over themselves. Rowan watched them go, a sinister smile curling his lips as the last one finally vanished from sight, and silence settled over the courtyard again. Catherine was still on the ground, staring up at Rowan, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Rowan, Prince Rowan, her past-tormentor and captor, had just rescued her.

"Filthy animals," the Prince said then, disdain coloring his voice as he snorted and shook his head. "I don't understand why Oberon favors them so much…Mab has frozen entire armies for less than that."

He looked down at her then, and a small smile touched his handsome face, not sardonic or sneering, just…gentle.

"Are you alright?" he asked, stepping forward and going to one knee to offer his hand.

"I…" Catherine suddenly became aware she was still lying on the ground, covered in dirt, and her dress—while still covering her—was devastated. Glancing down in embarrassment she tentatively took Rowan's hand, and allowed the Prince to lift her to her feet, feeling herself blush when he wrapped an arm around her waist to help her stand upright as she got her bearings.

"What a pity," he sighed, gently dusting off her back and shoulders and frowning down at her dress. "I am sure Oberon's seamstress worked on that dress, and you looked so lovely in it."

She had to be hearing things…Was Rowan _complimenting_ her? Turning a critical eye on him, momentarily distracted from her previous terror by his uncharacteristic show of compassion and concern, she gave him a skeptical look as he met her gaze and raised a dark eyebrow.

"Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked slowly.

His eyebrows shot up. "Beg pardon?"

"Did you drink too much faery wine or something?" she inquired, arching an eyebrow.

Rowan laughed aloud, clearly amused, and gently took her hand, startling her, to draw her over to a nearby fountain.

"And I thought you didn't have a sense of humor," he chuckled, gesturing that she should take a seat, which, after a moment's hesitation, she did.

She still kept a watchful eye on him as he pulled his cloak from his shoulders, only to drape it around her before assuming a seat beside her on the fountain's lip, turning his eyes skyward.

"I was serious," she mumbled after a moment, subconsciously pulling the cloak tighter around herself, noting that it smelled subtly of frost and something like pine.

"I can't be nice?" Rowan asked, turning to give her a small smirk.

"You locked me up for almost a week," she said curtly, casting him a sharp look to which he sighed and looked slightly resigned.

"The past is the past, my Lady," he told her calmly. "I would hope you'd forgive that transgression in light of recent events."

She flushed and looked away, realizing he was right. He might have locked her up all that time ago, but he _had _just saved her from being assaulted and raped by a herd of satyrs. On the tail of that thought, she felt a tremor run through her entire body as she remembered the few seconds before, trapped by the satyrs, their hands greedy on her body. She shuddered again, drawing Rowan's attention, and took a shaky breath, suddenly fighting the urge to cry—_again. _How many times could she cry in one night, really?

"Are you alright?" Rowan asked quietly, and she chanced a look in his direction to see him watching her with a small frown on his face.

She looked away, not managing to hide a small sniff, and shook her head. There was a brief pause, and then she started in alarm as Rowan leaned forward to wrap both arms around her, drawing her into him and leaning his head against hers. She froze up in his embrace, not at all certain what to do, or whether she might be dreaming, but the coolness of Rowan's breath against her temple was very much real, and after a moment of sitting as though frozen, a thousand emotions came pouring in on her all at once, too fast to stop or comprehend, and then she was crying into his chest, her hands fisted in his tunic.

He murmured softly to her, one hand petting her hair while the other smoothed over her back, gentle and reassuring, and for once she didn't care who he was, or what he had done. He was there, and he didn't mind she was coming apart in his arms, and that was all that really mattered at that point. That he let her cry out her fear and her pain and her anger at the world, and not ask a single thing about it, just calmly accept it as he rocked her gently back and forth in his arms.

All in all, the sob session didn't take as long as she might have expected it to, and soon enough she was gently pulling back from Rowan, wiping pathetically at her watering eyes and bowing her head as she heaved a deep sigh.

"Sorry," she murmured, sniffling and avoiding his gaze, though he kept one hand resting on her arm, his fingers moving in a soothing caress. "I don't know what happened…"

"You've been overwhelmed," Rowan said with a lazy shrug, offering a small, understanding smile.

Catherine glanced up at him briefly, trying to read more than just the gentle warmth radiating from his blue eyes, but not managing to find anything she looked away again.

"I guess so," she mumbled, sniffing again and looking out across the courtyard. "I hadn't really thought about it…I've just been waiting to get today over with for the past couple of weeks…"

"Why?" Rowan asked, sounding bemused. "Were you really not looking forward to the party?"

"That, too," she admitted, "But…I just want to get on with finding my father…"

She paused, realizing what she had just confessed, and glanced up in unease at him, to see if he had found her words too interesting, but he merely sat there, looking unruffled and calm, his blue eyes contemplative but not malicious as he gazed back at her.

"Is that why you came back to Faery?" he asked, inclining his head to one side. "When you ran away the first time, and then came back, you did so to look for your father?"

She hesitated to answer him, wondering just how much he was really letting on about his interest in her venture, and if she should really trust those too-blue eyes, but she couldn't sense any malevolence about him, and she had made sure to tune herself into it. After all, one didn't simply forget when someone locked them up, no matter how the person might act later. Swallowing a little, trying not to look too suspicious of him, she lowered her jade eyes to the ground and nodded.

"Demon's helping me," she murmured, "Since I can't do it on my own…"

"Have you had any luck so far?"

Why was he being so nice about this? She might have suspected he'd drugged her with something if they'd been in the hall eating, trying to worm answers out of her like a certain sibling of his, but she hadn't touched anything given to her, and she was pretty sure he didn't carry needles around for the purpose of drugging up his victims for questioning. And she couldn't detect any glamour in the air that wasn't already naturally there…Well, she thought, peeking up at Rowan from under her lashes, locking eyes with him as he looked attentively back, what the hell did she have to lose?

"Not yet," she sighed, shaking her head in answer to his question. "We thought maybe a friend of Demon's here might know something, but he just told us we'd be better off going to ask Lord Wrath."

"Lord Wrath," murmured Rowan, and a shadow of emotion crossed his fair skinned face before he could manage to hide it, but Catherine wasn't quick enough to decipher what it was before it was gone. "Well, your friend might very well be right. If anyone might know a thing or two about your father, it would be the King of Cats. When do you leave to find him?"

"I had hoped tonight," Catherine said, shrugging lamely, "But I'm thinking that won't happen."

"Oh, and why not?" Rowan frowned.

"Just…" Catherine paused to consider her answer, then sighed again and bowed her head, "I'm just not up to going anywhere tonight…too much has happened…"

"I had noticed," said Rowan with a small smile. "Satyrs running around like rutting goats, Oberon's Queen has it out for you…"

"How did you know about that?" Catherine asked, turning to stare at him, and he smirked a little.

"It's kind of obvious," he said idly. "Given the way she was looking like she just might turn you into a newt for the way that Summer knight was being so kind to you right before you ran away."

"Oh," mumbled Catherine, feeling her cheeks darken as she quickly averted her gaze. "That's…nothing…he's a very old friend of mine…"

"Really?" Rowan arched an eyebrow. "I didn't know you had friends in the Summer nobility already."

"He was my 'imaginary' friend when I was little," she confessed, feeling a little embarrassed admitting it that way. "I didn't know he actually existed until a couple of weeks ago. And I thought he would have forgotten anyway, since I was so little when we met, but he remembered. Titania doesn't really know about it, but she doesn't like me anyway…"

"Titania doesn't like anyone," Rowan said with a derisive snort. "How Oberon has tolerated her all these centuries is really beyond anyone, and how she hasn't murdered him yet is just as mind boggling. Everyone assumes it's because he's too powerful for her to get rid of and he loves her too much to throw her out on her ass."

"You sound like Puck when you say that," she sighed, rolling her eyes at the stars and smiling slightly.

Rowan chuckled softly. "Well, at least Goodfellow and I agree on something," he said with a wry smirk, "Though, while we're still talking about it, I get the feeling that a vengeful faery Queen is the last of your worries, really."

"Oh?" Catherine looked around at him, expecting to see that contemplative expression on his face, and felt a jolt hit her low in the gut when she saw his ice blue eyes narrowing, and a rather knowing smile played across the corners of his mouth. "And…what makes you say that?"

"Because I am neither blind, nor stupid," he told her, cocking an eyebrow, "And it wasn't exactly difficult to see the troubles all started the minute you went to dance with my prude of a brother."

_Shit_…

"Which brings me to another topic," Rowan said, rising slowly to his feet and dusting himself off before turning to look down at her, head cocked to one side like a curious feline. "Since we were discussing how you returned to Faery after you ran away before, I was just wondering how you managed to hide out for so long in Winter the second time around, and don't even try telling me you weren't in Winter, because—while my Thornguards might be lacking in brains—they are highly adept at tracking. They caught your scent when they were searching for you after we got the heads up you'd come back with your guardian. I, of course, went out to look for you, just wondering how you would have gotten back in, and managed to hide out so well. But when we found the place where you had apparently been hiding out you were gone, and there wasn't a trace left behind."

Catherine could feel her heart picking up speed, and stared in fear into Rowan's ice blue eyes as the Winter Prince offered her a rather sardonic smile, the one that she had first been anticipating from the moment he had come out to rescue her from the satyrs.

"Someone helped you," the sidhe prince murmured, "And it wasn't your guardian, though I certainly did contemplate that. But he wouldn't have the ability to hide you and himself for so long, and you couldn't possibly do it on your own. So, who in the whole of Unseelie Territory would consider helping you under threat of death from Mab for doing so?"

Catherine felt her throat go dry, and had to keep herself from swallowing convulsively and giving herself away as she gazed up as calmly as she could into Rowan's face, though she wasn't sure how long she could hold herself together with her heart pounding like battering ram against her rib cage. Not to mention she felt certain Rowan could sense her fear, and judging by the growing smirk on his face, he was getting all the answers he wanted just from watching her squirm.

"Who was it, Catherine?" he asked softly, stepping directly in front of her and leaning down so their faces were just inches apart. "I'd really like to tell them thank you for making it possible to see you again, though maybe not on the terms I would have preferred."

Catherine bit down on her lip, wincing as she aggravated the earlier cut from where she'd bitten herself, and feeling the copper tang of blood on her tongue as it reopened.

"Oh, don't do that," Rowan said, his tone almost chastising as he reached up with a hand to cup her chin, his thumb brushing over her bloodied lip. "Would it really be so bad to tell me?"

"It's none of your business," she said quietly, feeling herself trembling just at his touch, though there was no excitement in her as the Prince leaned even closer, his blue eyes narrowed, until she could feel the cool, wintery touch of his breath on her cheek.

"It is entirely my business," he told her in a velvety purr. "Besides, Catherine, I think you owe me a favor for saving you just a while ago, unless you'd rather I call those sexually frustrated zoo animals back to have a little fun."

Catherine felt terror strike deep into her core, and knew it shone in her eyes from the triumphant way Rowan smirked at her.

"Now," he said, and suddenly she was jerked upright as he grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet, "I think we can settle this very easily, without having to resort to underhanded measures, don't you? I just want to know who helped you out. Was it my tender hearted big brother? He sure seems very keen on you, and I don't remember him getting so into a girl in all the six hundred years I've known him, even if you _are _a little half blooded cat."

Catherine was trying to keep breathing, trying not to panic as she stood captive in Rowan's almost crushing grip, and as she looked up into his maliciously gleaming eyes a thought occurred to her and it gave her just the smallest bit of reassurance.

"Do you really want to make it known in the whole Nevernever that the great Prince Rowan stooped so low as to command a bunch of satyrs to rape a girl just because she told him no?" she asked him very softly, and felt a small surge of satisfaction to see him pause.

"And who would believe you?" he asked, recovering quickly.

"Anyone," she told him, and felt a small smirk come to her face. "I have friends in high places, too, Rowan. And I think my dress already kind of speaks for itself."

His eyes flickered down to confirm the tattered mess that was her previously regal black gown, and darkened as they lifted back up slowly to pin her with a rather malevolent stare.

"Well played, half breed," he congratulated her with a dark smile. "Fine, I won't call the petting zoo back, but I can think of a few other ways to play this game."

Catherine didn't speak, waiting to see just what kind of blackmail he'd pull this time around, figuring that whatever he threw at her couldn't be anywhere near as bad as his threat to call the satyrs. After escaping a herd of fey intent on raping her, she could take anything he tried to suffocate her with.

"You're good friends with Lady Trinity, aren't you, Catherine?" Rowan purred softly, his eyes narrowing to mere slits, and Catherine felt her heart still. "Quite a lovely girl, even for a half breed daughter of Oberon's lackey. You know, she actually kind of reminds me of another half breed I used to know. I missed the chance to play with that other one, since she managed to run off into her little metal kingdom and protect herself, as well as steal away my baby brother."

_Meghan…_ Catherine saw the Iron Queen's face flash in front of her face, and felt nauseous as Rowan continued in a lazy drawl,

"But, you know, Trinity could almost be the Queen's twin if you get her in the right lighting, wouldn't you agree? Just dim the lights a little and you have a perfect match…and while I'll admit it will probably be a little tricky getting her alone, she isn't quite as safe as she might like to think, even in Oberon's court."

"Don't touch her," Catherine gasped out, her fear and anger mixing together as she lifted her head to glare up at Rowan, who looked exceptionally pleased with her reaction.

"I'll have no need to put my hands on your friend," he told her softly, "So long as you tell me what I want to know. It's just a simple yes or no question, Catherine, really. Did Sage open his bleeding heart up to you and keep you safe and warm in Winter? Or was it some other poor bastard you managed to catch favor with. A pretty face like yours, it wouldn't be all that hard to get someone to look your way, would it?"

"Shut up," she said, her voice fairly trembling with anger, "Just shut up, and let go of me!"

"Of course," he said idly, almost oblivious to her struggles as she tried to push at his chest for some kind of leverage to free herself. "Right after I get what's owed to me. I saved you, Catherine, and I am very sure you wouldn't want to put yourself in a bad position with Mab if she heard you didn't pay me back a favor."

"You sound just like your brother," she spat at him, then a split second later realized what she'd done as Rowan's icy eyes lit up with triumphant glee.

"So it _was _Sage," he purred, his lips curling into a deep smile as horror washed over her. "My darling brother hid you from me…How interesting. And what did you give him to keep you from me, hm? I don't imagine he took much interest in what your body has to offer, but I could be mistaken. After all, here was me thinking he'd been telling the truth when he said he didn't hide you from me."

Catherine froze at those words, stunned. Sage had lied to Rowan? Lied about keeping her in the castle? No…that couldn't be right. Sage couldn't lie. But he could easily have maneuvered his way out of the straight truth and Rowan had just decided that, to suit his own purposes, his brother had lied to him. But how had he done it? How could he say he hadn't hidden her and have it be the truth?

"He…didn't hide me," Catherine stammered out, her mind already working frantically to make sense of the words coming out before she could stumble over them.

"Oh, he didn't?" Rowan asked, though he didn't look at all like he believed her now. "I had thought you were just telling me you owed him a favor for hiding you from me."

"I don't owe him any favors," she said furiously, and that, at least, was the truth. She owed Sage nothing anymore. He'd collected every one of his damned favors from her, but she wasn't about to let Rowan in on the fact that she had owed Sage anything in the first place. Besides, she hadn't really owed Sage for giving her safe haven in the first place. Demon had paid those debts, and Catherine had only had to promise Sage would never see her in his territory again.

Well, that had been easier said than done, but the fact still stood that she owed Sage nothing and never would again. And Rowan was about to be sorely disappointed if he thought he was going to get away with blackmailing her and trying to catch his brother in the act of treason.

"Then why did you say I sounded just like my brother, I wonder?" Rowan was asking lightly, cocking his head at her. "Or did I mistake the context in which you spoke? Are we not alike in the way we pick up what is owed to us?"

No, he hadn't mistaken it at all, but how did she get around it?

"I don't owe him anything," she repeated firmly, still twisting her wrists in his grip, trying to break free, and wincing when he tightened his grip, "I just get sick of that condescending tone the both of you use like you're so much better!"

There, that was it! She could see the frustrated gleam in Rowan's eyes as he stared down at her, and knew she'd done it. Though why she'd done it, she didn't know…Why hadn't she let Sage take the fall? There was no binding promise that made it so she couldn't tell others what he'd done, whether it would get him in trouble or praised. So why was she protecting him? She felt the answer stirring in her mind, and quickly shoved it to the darkest recesses of her mind where she couldn't see it, ignoring the small protesting voice that went with it, telling her to accept what was.

"Well, then," sighed Rowan, frowning, clearly annoyed, though his eyes still gleamed bright blue with malice, "That is an unfortunate misunderstanding. I had hoped to get mother's favorite son in a bit of trouble, since he's always been such a boring little kiss up, minding his own business. But, as you humans like to say, _c'est la vie_. That's life."

Catherine ignored him, still pulling at her hands, trying to break away from him, but he gave a low chuckle of amusement and tightened his grip deliberately until she squeaked with pain and stopped moving, not wanting to risk him snapping her bones.

"There's a good girl," he purred at her, and she threw a venomous glare up at him to which he laughed. "Aw, you're such a little wildcat. And here I thought you were just a tame little house cat. Silly me."

"Let go," she hissed at him, glad, at least, that he didn't seem to notice that really she wasn't so much angry as downright terrified.

"But I am not done with you, yet, my Lady," the sidhe Prince said in his softest voice, leaning down over her so she had to turn her head away to avoid his lips meeting hers as he came too close to her. "You still me owe me a favor, and I think, since this last plan has fallen through that I'll have to change it to something else a little more rewarding."

"What, you're done blackmailing me to find out who helped me?" she asked bitterly.

"Well, if it isn't my brother, I don't particularly feel like wasting my time and energy on figuring out who the bastard is," Rowan said carelessly.

Of course not, she thought, he'd only wanted to hear her answer to get his brother up to his neck in shit with Mab and whoever else might raise a fuss about it.

"Now, let's see," sighed the prince, tilting his head back as though to star gaze, though she could see the cogs of his devious mind beginning to turn as he contemplated just how to make her pay him back. If she'd cared less for herself, she would have been half wishing he'd just left her to the satyrs, but she'd sooner pay a debt to Rowan than be left to the mercy of a herd of sex-addicted fey. "Ah, yes…I think that will work…"

She felt nauseous as he turned glinting blue eyes onto her, and had to make herself keep from struggling or giving in to her urge to scream for help as he briefly released one of her hands, only to snake his arm firmly around her waist and drag her up against him, nearly making her sick from the close contact with him. Though she managed to keep her stomach from rebelling, she couldn't help the small gasp of alarm as she was pressed against the Prince, and his cool breath brushed like the touch of a winter chill against her face, causing her to jerk her head away as he brought his face very near to hers.

"I think I would like a kiss as my repayment," he murmured, angling his head to speak directly into her ear, sending shivers of disgust crawling down her spine. "And don't think about getting the idea of giving me anything less than a kiss on the lips, Catherine, because I know you would take my literal meaning and worm your way right out of this favor."

She was really going to be sick now, but not even so much because the feel of his body against hers was making her head reel with nausea. No…she was thinking of something else entirely… Of another Winter Prince, who had also demanded a kiss as her repayment to him. If it hadn't been so terrifying, she might have laughed in scorn at how all Winter Princes seemed to take some kind of sick pleasure in kissing her, or gone so far as to taunt Rowan for wanting to put his lips on a half-breed like her, but she was too busy trembling in Rowan's arms to really care about anything else.

There were a thousand different reasons why she did _not _want Rowan to kiss her, the most obvious being she didn't want to put her lips on any part of him, the other being because she wasn't about to give away another kiss as a favor to some self-serving jack ass like Rowan. But the main reason that she was reluctant to admit to herself for not wanting Rowan to kiss her was that just the thought of a kiss made her remember Sage, and she could feel the eldest Prince's kiss almost like it had happened minutes ago, and she was terrified if she kissed Rowan she would lose that feeling. She'd sooner remember Sage's kiss for a thousand years, even if it caused her nothing but grief, then remember Rowan's for a minute and lose Sage's for good.

She might like to entertain the idea that Sage's kiss had been so potent nothing could ever wipe it from her mind, but she wasn't naïve enough to sit there and think she wasn't entirely susceptible to Rowan, because she totally and completely was. Just looking at him now, staring into his eyes, she could feel her heart beat a little faster, and felt a kick of excitement as he smiled down at her, his blue eyes momentarily void of all that maliciousness and darkness. He looked almost handsome that way, she thought, her hands tightening unconsciously in his tunic, rather than trying to push him away as he freed her other hand to wrap his arm firmly around her waist, pulling her even closer, if that was even possible.

Would it even be so bad to kiss him, she wondered vaguely as he lifted hand to idly brush back a stray strand of copper hair that was hanging in her face. What was so horrible about it? It wasn't really like she had feelings for Rowan, so it wouldn't mean anything…she was just paying back a favor…

She jolted at her own thoughts, turning her face away at the last second with a gasp as she realized she'd nearly been glamoured right into kissing him. Just paying back a favor? Bullshit, the last time she'd tried to convince herself of that she'd landed herself in such hell. Hell that she was still suffering as a result from when she'd seen Sage…been dancing with him… No, nothing was ever 'just' anything, whether it was a favor or anything else, especially not when the favor was this.

"Catherine," Rowan murmured, breaking in on her mental reprimand, his voice reproachful and tender. "Come on, look at me…it's just a little kiss…"

Just, she thought sourly. Yeah, 'just'. It would never be 'just' anything… She risked a glance up at the Winter sidhe, fearful of just what kind of power he'd had over her if their eyes met, and went completely rigid as she found herself staring up into a pair of vibrant, icy emerald eyes gazing back down at her from a fair, narrow face that was not Rowan's.

"Catherine," Sage murmured her name again, his voice soft and almost pleading as his fingers brushed across her cheek. "Just kiss me…that's all I'm asking. Is that so bad?"

Her mind was reeling. What the hell was going on? Rowan had just been standing here, but not it was Sage…glamour, she thought, shaking her head as though to clear it. It had to be glamour! But…why didn't it feel like glamour?

"I," she stammered, lifting her head to look up at him again, stunned, "But…Rowan…"

"What about him?" Sage asked with a small frown.

"He was just," she said, feeling her voice faltering as his fingertips touched her lip softly, lingering over the small laceration she'd given herself.

"Shh," Sage murmured, pressing a finger lightly to her lips, silencing her. "Stop, Catherine…This isn't about Rowan…"

Something was so very wrong with all of this, but she couldn't seem to keep her mind steady as she stared up into his sparkling green eyes. Everything was a whirl and she could practically feel the ground caving underneath her so she was gripping his shoulders even more tightly than before.

"This isn't you," she whispered, even as he leaned closer, her image reflected in his emerald gaze, "It can't be…You…"

"I…?" Sage prompted her gently, his lips feathering lightly over hers.

Her eyes fluttered closed as he sighed softly against her lips, and she felt herself tremble inside as his arms tightened around her, nearly crushing her against him.

"Kiss me," he whispered softly.

She wanted to… She could already feel herself leaning in towards him, closing that almost nonexistent space between them, her breath leaving her in a shaky sigh that almost became his name. Just as his lips brushed over hers again, a screeching cry rang out overhead, startling her, and she opened her eyes to see a shadow sweep over her vision, momentarily cutting out Sage's face as the moonlight was blotted out of existence by the wings of a giant owl as the bird soared by, crying out again. When the great bird had passed them, taking its shadow with it, Catherine turned her eyes back to Sage's face, and gasped in alarm to find herself staring into Rowan's glowing blue eyes as he began to lean in towards her again, his lips caressing hers.

"No!"

She didn't know how she did it, but in the middle of slamming a hand forward against Rowan's chest to drive him back her glamour whirled chaotically and she pulled on it, becoming immediately insubstantial and streaming away from the Prince, who let out a curse. She dropped from the air a ways away, nearly losing her balance as she straightened, his borrowed cloak falling from her shoulders as she staggered backwards, gasping in relief. But it was a short lived victory. Though she'd managed to evaporate, thirty feet had been a long shot to hope for. Looking up, she felt a stab of horror to realize she had only just gotten out of a five-foot reach of Rowan, who, during the moments it had taken her to recover, had strode forward and was reaching for her, his ice blue eyes narrowed.

She turned to run but his fingers had already had her wrist and were dragging her backwards even as she cried out in fear and tried to pull away.

"Neat disappearing trick," he said as he managed to lock an arm around her waist and haul her backwards, "I almost thought you were really trying to get away until you showed up within arm's reach."

"Let go!" she gasped, tears pricking at her eyes as she struggled as hard as she could, but he'd pinned her with her back to his chest and her arms locked in front of her in the unyielding grip of his hands and she had no escape.

"You owe me a kiss, Catherine," he murmured in her ear, "Though if you'd like to tell me just who you saw during that little glamour spell so you can enjoy the moment more, I'd be happy to oblige you."

"No," she exclaimed, trying to jam her heel into his foot, but he shifted, moving so suddenly that she didn't have time to realize what was happening until she hit a wall with him in front of her, and a stabbing pain shot up her shoulder so she screamed and jerked away from the wall behind her, her hand clutching her arm. When she lifted her fingers away, they were coated in blood.

Gasping in pain and terror, she looked back to see a wall of briars rising up nearly sixteen feet into the air behind her, their barbed thorns long and wicked, some now shimmering in a coating of her blood.

"Aw, poor thing," murmured Rowan in mock sympathy, and his hands grabbed her again, pulling her forward despite her struggles until she was locked in his arms again. "Really, Oberon needs to think about his gardening selection. A lady can hurt herself out here with all of these thorns."

She whimpered as he brushed his fingers lightly along the stinging gashes in her shoulder and arm, but didn't dare struggle now, afraid he might inflict real pain if she did, and stood there, tears in her eyes, as blood trickled sluggishly down her skin, staining her dress.

"This just won't do," said Rowan, his head bowed over her injured shoulder, his blue eyes aglow with malice as he examined the deep wounds. "If the redcaps catch the scent of blood I don't think even Mab will be able to stop them from coming to investigate. We should really stop the bleeding before that happens. I'd hate to have to be the one to explain to Mab and Oberon just how you got yourself in such a situation."

Catherine didn't know just what he was plotting, only that her back was stinging and throbbing, and she was terrified, trapped against him, and that she wanted to cry but that would only encourage him. Not to mention the shame that was slowly drowning her as she realized that she had almost kissed him, thinking he was Sage, having let herself become so enamored by his tricks that she'd really gone so far as to believe he had been his brother. If that owl hadn't stopped her, she would have said Sage's name…what would Rowan have done then?

She jerked as something cool touched her shoulder, and squealed in alarm as she felt Rowan's lips moving languidly across her skin, licking at the blood on her shoulder.

"Let go!" she cried, struggling again, disgusted and terrified, as she felt the cool moistness of his tongue lapping at the open wounds.

"But you're hurt, my Lady," he said in a low, taunting voice, only tightening his grip when she might have wriggled her way free. "Would you have me leave you in pain like this?"

"Get _off_!"

She caught her breath in a pained gasp as Rowan deliberately pressed his fingers down on one of the wounds, drawing more blood and causing tears to stream from her jade eyes.

"Play nice, Catherine," he told her as she breathed through the pain, her eyes blurring from tears. "You didn't want to pay me my favor, so let's just call this even."

"You're sick," she choked out, closing her eyes tightly against the pain, feeling a tear run hotly down her cheek.

"You do not even begin to comprehend the meaning of the word," he murmured, lifting his head to speak into her ear, his breath chilled and harsh against her skin. "Don't go throwing around words without knowing what they mean, Catherine, you'll only embarrass yourself. Though, I find it interesting…"

He lowered his head once more and she whimpered as she endured the slow caress of his tongue across her shoulder again.

"I can taste frost in your blood," he murmured quietly, sounding triumphant, "Frost and winter…you are born of the ice, like me. Your blood gives it away. You belong in Winter, in my lands…"

His lips feathered a kiss across her temple.

"You belong to me," he breathed.

"I don't belong to anyone," she whispered, and he chuckled softly in her ear.

"Poor child," he sighed, "You really think I can't make you mine? It would be so easy… I am a Prince, son of the Winter Queen, heir to the Throne, and you think I can be denied what I want? I might not be able to claim as you quickly as I would like, given the current circumstances, but it would be only too easy to do it. And there is nowhere you could run where I couldn't find you, not even your little Mortal World."

She choked on a sob as his fingers brushed across her face, catching her chin and forcing her to look at him as his cerulean eyes bored down into hers.

"And I don't think you'd really want to resist me in any case, Catherine," he went on casually, almost as though carrying on a leisurely conversation on the weather as he smirked cruelly, "After all, I think you remember what I said earlier…How easy it is to get my hands on even those who are supposedly well protected in Oberon's court?"


	22. Chapter 22

Catherine's heart somersaulted in her chest as Trinity's face floated in front of her eyes, and she felt sick to imagine her friend cornered by Rowan, trapped and tortured as she had been. Worse…Rowan would do so much worse to Trinity…Not just because he would use it against Catherine, not just because Trinity was the daughter of the Great General who had served his mother's worst enemy, but because he could. Simply because he could take whatever he wanted, and, though he might eventually face the consequences for it, it wouldn't be before he had wrought enough chaos to tear everything apart.

"Leave her alone," she whispered, still seeing Trinity's smiling face before her eyes. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"She has _everything _to do with this," Rowan contradicted her softly, his smirk broadening until he was almost leering. "How can I force your compliance otherwise? Not to mention she really does look like that little Iron Bitch and I never had the chance to play with her before…she'd make an excellent substitute. And I don't think Mab would mind one bit if I managed to completely devastate the daughter of the man who made her lose a war, do you?"

"No," Catherine moaned, tears brimming as she stared in pleading horror up at Rowan, "No, please, just leave her alone…!"

"And what do I get out of it if I leave your little bitch friend alone?" he asked, arching an eyebrow, eyes coldly amused as he watched her struggle emotionally.

"Whatever you want," she said helplessly, knowing what she was doing, not caring, "Anything, just leave Trinity alone!"

"Anything?" Rowan asked, his tone intrigued, and Catherine felt her stomach dissolve to see his eyes glow with malevolent triumph. "Now, that's an interesting proposition. You give me absolutely anything I ask for, and I leave your friend alone for good. Sounds fair to me. So, shall we make it an official deal, so you can't go back on your word, and I'm not tempted to go back on mine if you end up disappointing me?"

Catherine closed her eyes, feeling hopelessness washing over her like a tidal wave. There it was, then, the official oath. If she said the words, she was bound to whatever she promised him, regardless of whatever he asked for, and he would leave Trinity alone. A fair trade, as he'd said.

"Say the words," he murmured quietly, and she opened her eyes to look into the sidhe's ice blue eyes. "Swear your oath to me, and your friend is as good as safe."

She choked on a sob, fighting back tears, and was just about to open her mouth to speak when a voice called out abruptly, echoing from the front hall, carrying through the open doorway into the courtyard, and Catherine froze as she recognized Sonata's voice.

"Well, damn," sighed Rowan, looking exceptionally annoyed as he glanced to his right, hearing the sound of footsteps drawing rapidly nearer. "What a buzz kill, and right when I was getting to the good part of the night."

Catherine was stuck between feeling relieved and totally distraught as she heard Sonata call her name again, his voice concerned. On the one hand, she was very sure he'd just saved her from making a deal that might as well have been the death of her, and on the other, he had also made it possible for Rowan to go ahead with his plans to use Trinity.

"Please," she whispered when Rowan made to step away, and he paused, glancing down at her with an eyebrow arched, "Leave Trinity alone…"

Rowan smirked slowly, a lazy, indulgent curl of his lip, and his ice blue eyes gleamed.

"Right when you've made things so interesting?" he purred, moving back in to bend over her, cupping her chin and turning her face up to his. "I don't think so, my Lady… I just got a hold of the biggest game piece on this board, and I don't think I'm quite ready to surrender it yet, unless you think you can get me to reconsider…"

His tone was insinuative, and she knew just what was on his mind, but before either of them could speak another word a shadow crossed the front door, and a moment later Sonata appeared, his electric blue eyes scanning the courtyard anxiously and freezing as he caught sight of Rowan and Catherine standing half in shadow by the front gate.

"Ah, your knight in shining armor comes," murmured Rowan as Sonata swept towards them across the yard, moving quickly. "Shame, I was enjoying playing with you. But before we say goodnight..."

He dragged her to him suddenly, catching her lips in a harsh kiss that bruised her lips and nearly made her gag before he stepped away, leaving her to stagger back, gasping.

"Adieu, Lady," Rowan purred to her, blowing her a kiss as he sauntered away, his eyes glowing with mirth. "Let's play again sometime."

Catherine was still gasping, a hand at her mouth, feeling as though they had been scalded, as the Prince ambled away, passing Sonata, who had momentarily frozen halfway across the yard, his eyes wide with shock at what he had just witnessed. As Rowan passed him, however, he seemed to snap back to himself, glancing sideways at the Winter sidhe to catch him smirking, before rushing over to where Catherine had gone to her knees, no longer able to remain standing.

"My Lady." Sonata knelt in front of her, his face lined with worry as he yanked his cloak from his shoulders and twirled it around her, his eyes raking over her as she trembled, stopping dead when he caught sight of the fresh blood coating her shoulder. "What in the…my Lady, what happened?"

He reached forward gingerly to lift his cloak away, a gasp of horror escaping him as he finally uncovered the full extent of the damage.

"My Lady…" He was staring at her, and she could only look up, tears glittering in her eyes, at a loss for words.

His expression hardened immediately, and he slid an arm around her waist, minding her injuries, to draw her carefully to her feet, pulling her protectively beneath his shoulder and leading her back towards the castle. Rowan had already disappeared inside.

"That bastard," Sonata growled, and Catherine tilted her head back to stare in alarm at him, her jade eyes bright with shock to see the look of pure fury that had taken over his expression. "When Lord Oberon hears of this…"

"No," she whispered, her voice cracking, and Sonata looked down at her in disbelief, his electric blue eyes widening as she gripped at his arm, pulling him to a halt just outside the door and shaking her head. "Sonata, please, no…Oberon can't hear about this…!"

"Why not?" the sidhe demanded, looking nothing short of outraged as he gaped at her. "My Lady, you are injured and the only one I just saw outside who could have caused it was Prince Rowan. If he harmed you, Oberon must hear of it to be able to act accordingly. Even Lady Mab is sure to wish to punish Rowan for such a transgression as this, especially at Elysium!"

"Sonata, please," she begged, tears flowing freely, stinging her face. "Please, I know you're just trying to make sure Rowan gets what he deserves, but—"

"Wrong," snapped Sonata, alarming her. "I am trying to make sure you are protected, and you are making it shockingly difficult to do so! I could care less what happens to that bastard, though I would certainly love to take a dagger to his throat and be done with the whole thing, but, unfortunately, that is not an option. What _is _an option is taking you to Oberon and informing him that you were attacked inside of his court by that beast who calls himself a Prince! I am here to _protect _you, Catherine. I can't protect you if you don't let me!"

By this point he had grabbed her shoulders, barely remembering in time to avoid gripping her wounded right side, and was barely restraining the urge to shake her. She could tell he was furious, see it in the way his eyes burned down at her, and for a moment she flashed back to that morning, when Demon had become so angry after the encounter with Titania. Storming out to go inform Oberon, having lost his temper with her though she hadn't been the initial target of his rage. Demon had just been trying to help her…to protect her… And now Sonata was doing the same… So why couldn't she let him?

"I'm sorry," she whispered, bowing her head.

Sonata's eyes flashed with alarm and guilt, and he sighed harshly, dragging her into his arms and dropping his chin on her head, eyes tightly shut as he attempted to tramp down the fury bubbling just under his skin.

"Don't be," he murmured to her, "You have a good heart, Catherine, and I know you are just trying to avoid a conflict, but this can't just go by unnoticed. You were injured, and I saw what he did. You didn't want to accept that kiss from him…"

"It was his favor," she hiccupped. "It didn't matter if I wanted it…"

"Favor?" Sonata sounded confused and tense. "Why would you owe him a favor, Catherine?"

"He rescued me," she sniffed, burying her face in Sonata's tunic, her mind already replaying the scene from what already seemed like hours ago. "A bunch of satyrs came out here and…and tried to…"

She couldn't even say it, and her breath hitched whenever she tried. Under her hands, she could feel Sonata go rigid, and by the way his hand tightened marginally around her she knew he understood, even without her explaining.

"Rowan came out here," she continued, "And stopped them… As his favor, he wanted me to kiss him…"

Sonata was silent for a long moment, and she imagined he was lost in contemplation. After a while, standing in the silence, he sighed and asked,

"So the satyrs were the ones that injured your shoulder?"

Now it was her turn to go still and silent, though she knew that was just about as good an answer as if she'd spoken aloud, and she heard Sonata give a furious oath under his breath.

"Savior or not, Catherine, that does not give him any rights to do this to you!"

She knew that already…how could she not know? Even humans knew something like this was unacceptable treatment, but she wasn't about to try and use human morals and fey justice in the same issue. Fey might agree that no one should get away with such mistreatment, but since it was Rowan, who was going to be stupid enough to go up against him? Even with her word against his, and the evidence Sonata had as an eyewitness, coupled with the fact that Rowan wouldn't be able to lie in front of the three courts now congregated in the great hall, what good would it really do? Punishment for him might be something as severe as a smack over the hand, or he could go without punishment at all. He was Mab's son. And who was she, a lowly half-breed, to be making accusations against a Winter blueblood?

And then there was Titania…who would be more than delighted to hear Catherine go making allegations against Mab's baby boy. After all, Titania had been waiting the whole night to get her in trouble for something, and if Catherine went storming into the great hall and started calling Rowan out on what he'd done, that would basically be giving Titania exactly what she wanted.

"I just want to go to my room, Sonata," she whispered, tears falling from her eyes onto his tunic, dampening the fabric. "I know you want to protect me…but I just can't face them like this…"

"Then don't," he murmured softly, "Let me."

"Mab won't listen if it's just you," she mumbled, shaking her head.

"She doesn't have to," Sonata said curtly. "My only objective is to tell Oberon that a crime has been committed and to let him come for himself to see the truth of my words. Mab may not listen to me, but Oberon will, and Mab will then listen to Oberon."

She could tell there wouldn't be any way to dissuade him now, and did she really want to?

"Rowan threatened Trinity," she whispered, "He threatened to hurt her if I didn't give him what he wanted…"

"And what did he want?" Sonata asked in a low voice, his tone dangerous.

"Me," she confessed. "He said he knew I belonged to Winter…and that I belonged to him because of that…"

"Winter?" Sonata sounded confused again, though the subtle danger in his tone remained. "What do you mean?"

"My father was a Winter Cait Sith," she hiccupped, "I didn't tell anyone else here because Demon knew they would be even worse to me than they already are because I'm a half-human. But Rowan knew. He said…he said he could taste it in my blood."

She'd been prepared for Sonata's reaction to her last words, and wasn't disappointed. She heard his sharp intake of breath, and the way he went almost as still as stone against her, and the glamour in the air spiked sharply, practically soaked with the fury and horror radiating off of Sonata.

"He took your blood?" the sidhe demanded in a stricken voice.

"I didn't mean for him to," she said, her voice quavering, her stomach doing flips that left her feeling sick beyond reason, "When I got hurt on the thorns, he just started licking the blood…"

Just thinking about it made her even more ill than before, and she shuddered at the remembered feeling of the Prince's lips and tongue against her raw skin, taking in her blood… The wounds on her back throbbed as though to further antagonize her, and she gave a small whimper as she sank even further into Sonata's arms. She didn't want to remember this…none of it. And what was worse, where Rowan had kissed her still ached from the harsh brutality with which he had administered the contact, though there was no lingering coolness or taste of him, just a bitter reminder of what he had done. And she hated him for it…

She didn't care if he'd rescued her from something she would sooner have died than let happen, didn't care if he had been there to comfort her during those moments when she had cried. In the end, nothing about him had changed since her imprisonment a month ago, and she didn't believe it ever would. He was a cold, heartless, worthless piece of trash, and he was willing to both harm her and her friends to get his way. It disgusted her, and the worst part was there was really nothing she could do… Even if Sonata went and told Oberon, and she went with him to confirm what Rowan had done, she couldn't believe that Mab would really punish her son. Oberon would get angry, sure, and tell Mab that he wouldn't tolerate such insults against the people in his court, and either Mab would completely blow him off and leave with her sons and never hear of the issue again, or Rowan would make an argument that he could do whatever he damn well pleased to her. After all, she was of Winter. If the Prince told Oberon that, there was really nothing the Summer King could do, because that left Catherine in Mab's jurisdiction, even if, by all rights, Cait Sith were not bound by land ties the same as other fey. That wouldn't matter to the Winter Queen or her son, though. They didn't give a damn about things like that, especially not when they considered half-breeds as having absolutely no rights in the Nevernever.

But even if she couldn't do anything for herself, she didn't want to sit idly by and let Trinity take the fall for her. Even if she couldn't go tell Oberon what Rowan had done to her, the Erkling had to know what the Prince was planning for Trinity. Trinity could be protected. She was the daughter of a Summer noble and general, and Oberon wouldn't let some bastard Prince have his way with her, especially when the laws of all three courts clearly dictated that there be no intimate relations between their subjects except inside of their own courts. Of course, Trinity kind of defied that law with her love for Tertius, but that was another thing. How long would it take for Rowan to figure out that Trinity was in love with the Iron knight? And how much longer after that would it take for him to exploit that to control Trinity?

Catherine let out a pained moan, and Sonata held her even more closely, hushing her.

Everything was so wrong… None of this should be happening… Catherine might believe she had spread around enough bad karma to deserve her lousy draw in the hand of Fate, but why Trinity? Even Nikki… Rowan might not be able to exploit Nikki like he could Trinity or Catherine, but that didn't mean Nikki was any less in danger from the Prince's malevolence than the rest of them. If he wanted to use her in his game, he'd do everything in his power to do so. But as far as Nikki's safety went, Catherine felt assured, at least, that Puck could protect her. As Oberon's right hand and the famed faery of the whole Nevernever, he had more power in one finger than Rowan could hope to contain in his entire being. But Trinity only had Oberon, and though the Erkling definitely outranked the Prince as far as class standing went, Catherine felt that Oberon didn't have anywhere near the attentiveness or the state of mind to take a threat from Rowan seriously. And that was where he failed. He wouldn't believe that Rowan could slip by him, and that was where he put Trinity in danger by thinking himself so high and mighty that nothing could get by him unless he allowed it.

Well, Catherine knew differently. Considering Oberon had been her escort for the night, stationed as such to keep her protected from Mab and Rowan both, it seemed a very poor reflection on his capabilities if, despite all of the show he'd gone through to make certain the whole gathering knew she was under his protection, Rowan had still gotten past his radar and gotten to her. She didn't trust Oberon with protecting her, and she certainly didn't trust him to protect Trinity, whether or not her friend was the daughter of his favorite General.

"I don't care if Oberon knows what Rowan did to me," she hiccupped. "But I can't let Rowan get away with threatening Trinity…"

"He won't," Sonata said darkly, and began to lead her towards the castle again, this time passing through the doors and beginning the walk down towards the great hall. "You have my word, my Lady. Rowan will not get away with either of the crimes he has committed tonight. Attacking you and threatening Lady Trinity are inexcusable."

Catherine only nodded, too emotionally drained now to really manage anything else than sniffling and clinging pathetically to the sidhe as he moved them through the halls, at one point stopping to check around a corner where they heard low voices speaking, only to find a couple of servants debating about how long it would take to clear the hall once the guests had left. Too soon, though Catherine could hear the sound of the party still continuing as they turned down yet another hall, and she slowed her steps, her uncertainty making her hesitant, not to mention she could feel the congealed blood on her back, sticking to her dress and Sonata's now ruined cloak, and felt that making an appearance in such a state would be nothing short of suicidal as far as public humiliation went.

"You will be alright," Sonata murmured in her ear, sensing her reluctance to continue and slowing to a stop to look down at her, his bright eyes gentle, though still hard from his anger at Rowan.

"I don't want to see them," she whispered, feeling her lower lip quivering as she stared down at the hall towards the noise, hearing laughter and loud voices and feeling immediately light headed at the image of herself striding into their midst, disheveled and bloodied, to confront Rowan.

"And you will not have to," Sonata promised her very quietly, giving her a gentle squeeze that made her wince slightly as her shoulder gave a particularly nasty throb. "I will go in and inform Lord Oberon you are not well and to come calling on you at his earliest convenience. No one else will need to know what has happened."

Catherine bit on her lip at that, feeling a twinge of guilt as she considered Nikki and Trinity. No doubt the two of them would be worried about what was taking her so long to return, especially now that Rowan was back but she and Sonata were still absent. They might not be worried at all, or she'd like to think so. Even if they didn't worry about where she'd gone, they were undoubtedly worried about her encounter with Sage earlier, and they'd want to know she was alright.

"Nikki and Trinity," she murmured, and Sonata lowered his head to hear her clearly, "I want them to know, too…they've been really worried about me since we got here…I don't want to keep any more secrets from them."

The Summer noble nodded his snowy head in understanding and straightened up. "I will inform them as well. They will probably leave immediately once they here you are unwell."

"Don't over exaggerate it," she pleaded, and he flashed her a small smile in the midst of the unease around them.

"I will do no such thing," he promised quietly, slipping his hand into hers and lifting her palm to kiss it gently, moving forward again. "They will already be worried enough for your safety, and I do not wish to make them worry anymore than is necessary, especially since I know that will not make you happy. You have been hiding the truth from them to protect them."

She cringed at his words, and ducked her head when she glanced down at her through contemplative blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, but he shook his head, sending his snowy white tresses glittering in the faery light above them.

"Do not be," he murmured back. "You care for your friends, and do not wish them to feel the same pain as you, though I also know you seek their comfort and support in times of need. And, before I forget, I wanted to apologize for pushing you earlier on the issue with Prince Sage. I was only concerned for your wellbeing and realized afterwards it was wrong of me to keep forcing the matter when you clearly just wanted to leave it be…"

"It wasn't your fault," she murmured, looking up at him through wide, jade eyes. "Don't apologize. I was just stressed out…"

"You care about him."

She felt her stomach disappear, and her heart suddenly locked up, unable to beat, as Sonata turned his electric blue eyes onto her pale face. He offered his small smile again, and his gaze was tender, and sympathetic.

"I could see it in your eyes," he told her gently when she only gaped back at him in disbelief. "Do not think that I am disappointed or angry in any way with your feelings for him, but I am also not going to pretend I am blind to it. Don't look like that, my Lady, no one else knows, I can promise you that."

That didn't make her feel any better…the issue was that he _did _know. _Someone _knew... Well, two someone's, when she had to stop and consider that Demon probably wasn't as dumb on the whole thing as he might pretend to be. But if it was so obvious to the two of them, why hadn't anyone else noticed? Or had they, and had it just been ignored? No, she thought, that couldn't be it. If Oberon had noticed, or Mab, they would have been at her throat for it long before now, and she had spent two weeks under Oberon's watchful eyes, as well as the rest of the eyes of the court. So, while the Summer King had failed to notice, Sonata and Demon had…

Her secret wasn't as secret as she wished.

"Just please don't tell anyone else," she murmured, feeling shame well up in her.

"I would never think of it," he said in a soft voice, bowing his head to hers, and then pausing as they finally came to the archway leading into the great hall. From here, just outside of the main room, the noise from the crowd inside was almost deafening, and Catherine thought it was a wonder how Oberon and Mab and Meghan could manage to hold peace talks in the middle of such chaos.

"Wait here," Sonata told her quietly, stopping her just out of sight of the hall and leaning to the side to peer in, his cerulean eyes scanning the crowd, narrowing as they alighted briefly on Rowan, lounging at the high table. "I will speak with Oberon and Lady Nicolette and Lady Trinity and return."

Catherine nodded meekly, leaning gingerly against the wall, hoping that no blood would seep through the cloak and stain the walls. Sonata took her hand for a brief moment, lifting it once more to his lips, then leaned forward to gently brush a kiss to her forehead, then stepped away under the archway and disappeared from sight. Catherine was tempted to watch him go to the high table, but knew that would require her to lean around the archway, and that would make her visible to anyone nearby, or anyone attentive enough to notice her peeking in. And she didn't want to risk being seen by anyone at this point. Least of all Rowan or anyone that belonged to Mab's side of the table…

So she stood, and she waited, gazing sightlessly down at the toes of her shoes, which had become badly scuffed through the events of the night, trying not to think too hard on anything, just keeping her mind carefully blank, only letting herself wonder briefly just what Sonata would tell Oberon, Nikki and Trinity…

Soft footfalls had her lifting her head, her jade eyes glancing around to rest on the long shadow of an approaching figure a moment before Sonata reappeared, but he was not alone. Catherine felt her stomach drop to her toes as she locked gazes with Oberon as the Erkling stepped through the archway behind Sonata, and then experienced her throat closing off completely as, right on the heels of the Summer King, came two more very unwelcome faces. Titania's sapphire eyes glinted in the faery light as she stepped out into view, narrowing as they rested on Catherine, and just beside the Summer Queen, though somewhat apart, as though wary of standing in too close proximity, was Mab. Her black, depthless eyes sweeping around the hall for a brief moment before settling with eerie stillness on Catherine's pale, terrified face. The Ice Queen's gaze raked over her, a short judgment that marked her, though Catherine couldn't quite decipher Mab's emotions as the monarch never once let her carefully erected mask of disinterest slip as she stepped forward to look down at Catherine through those soulless black eyes.

"I'm sorry," Sonata whispered to Catherine, stepping up to her side and lowering his head to speak in her ear, "When I told Lord Oberon he insisted they all see you at once to be sure I wasn't being deceived into lying."

How had she known that would happen? Oh, of course, because Titania thought she was a witch and Mab had a bone to pick with her for her previous slights against the Winter Court. Oberon probably hadn't commanded they come at all, and more than likely would have been happy to meet with Catherine alone to see for himself that she spoke the truth, but she knew he didn't quite have the authority to tell either of the Queens in front of her that they were not permitted to see her. Mab would just accuse Oberon of lying to her or being tricked and Titania—for once—would probably have taken the Ice Queen's side on the issue. So, of course, while she was strictly terrified as she faced all three royals, Catherine was not in the least bit surprised to see them there. She only wished that Nikki and Trinity could have made an appearance, too, so she didn't feel quite so strung out.

"Catherine Drake," Oberon's voice rumbled like summer thunder, and she flinched in spite of herself, looking nervously up into the Erkling's vivid green eyes. "Sonata has told us you have been attacked on these grounds and injured by Prince Rowan. Is this true?"

No, she thought sarcastically, I'm just lying my ass off because it sounded like something to do to pass the time.

"Yes, it is," she said quietly, and Mab's eyes flashed with furious disbelief.

"She lies," the Queen said immediately, lifting her head, nostrils flaring, and Catherine shrank back further against the wall as she felt an icy chill sweep through the hallway, stabbing at her exposed skin. "I gave Rowan direct instructions not to bother the half breed. All of my men have been given these orders. If any harm has come to her, it was not because of my son."

"Peace, Lady Mab," Oberon said, lifting an appeasing hand, "Let us hear her out."

"There is nothing to hear," said Mab furiously, turning a baleful glare on the Erkling, "Nothing but lies. I will not believe my son has gone against my direct orders. Besides, why should I listen to the idle prattling of a half breed?"

"Because she's telling the truth," said Sonata in a low voice, leveling a dark look at Mab. "And I was witness to it. Your son, Prince Rowan, assaulted her in the courtyard."

Mab hissed in disbelief, and took a threatening step towards Sonata, but Oberon put out a hand to bar her way, and though she looked mutinously up at him, he did not remove his arm, or back down.

"I said we would come to hear what has to be said," Oberon murmured, his eyes focused solely on Catherine. "And I intend to do just that. Now, Lady Catherine, I ask that you relay to us what has come to pass between you and Prince Rowan this night after you left the great hall."

Catherine felt her previously disembodied stomach return, but only so it could turn over several nausea inducing times so she had to press a hand hard to it to keep from doing something humiliating. She hadn't wanted to speak like this in front of Oberon, and especially not with Mab and Titania playing witness to it all. _Especially _not Mab. She might have thought Titania would be a worse person to endure for this, but she was really starting to lean more in the direction that if she said one wrong word about Mab's precious baby boy, she was liable to get her throat frozen shut.

Still, if she kept her silence, it wouldn't be just her that ended up thrown out among the wolves…she had to think of Trinity, too, and what Rowan had threatened to do to her. This wasn't just about her, just about Catherine, anymore. There were others involved now, and Rowan had made it his business to make them involved, and now she was going to make it her business that he got retribution for it.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, trying not to lose face in front of the three rulers now towering above her, vaguely wondering why neither Ash nor Meghan was included in this little royal collection of witnesses, she looked up hesitantly at Oberon and began,

"I went out into the courtyard, just to get some air. I hadn't meant to be gone so long, I just needed a minute to get myself together. But while I was out there, a group of satyrs showed up and…and tried to…"

She felt herself stammering and threw a helpless glance in Sonata's direction, at which the sidhe moved forward slightly to speak briefly for her.

"The satyrs attempted to have their way with her, my Lord," he murmured to Oberon, whose expression immediately darkened like thunder clouds moving in.

"And where does this include Prince Rowan, I wonder?" Titania inquired in a rather lofty voice, her sapphire eyes narrowing as she faced Catherine. "Satyrs attacked you, so what does it have to do with the prince?"

"I'd also like to hear that," Mab said coldly.

"Rowan came and stopped them," Catherine pressed on, feeling a little desperate as she quickly realized the two Queens were ganging up on her. "He drove them off and then helped me to sit down because I was shaking so badly…"

She could feel herself panicking, and in the back of her mind she realized something absolutely terrifying. No matter what she said next, it would get around to Rowan's favor, and if Mab heard that she'd refused to give Rowan his favor, that was the end of it. The Queen wouldn't hear another word. So how did she make it so that Mab would at least have reason to pause and listen to her? Telling her that Rowan had gotten his kiss in the end wouldn't be enough, the Queen would just say it served her right and wash her hands of the whole affair and storm back into the room and hear nothing more against her son.

She tried to think quickly, feeling her mouth go dry for a moment as she stared up at the three royals standing around her, just barely comforted by Sonata's solid presence at her side as he faced them as well.

"Rowan asked for his favor," she said slowly, trying to keep her voice from trembling, just barely making the cut.

"And what did he ask for his favor?" Oberon asked in a low voice, his eyes narrowing.

Catherine hesitated again, her gaze flickering nervously to Mab, who glared at her, as though daring her to speak, but also seemed quite interested to hear just what her son had asked as a favor from Catherine.

"What did my son ask of you, half blood?" she prompted Catherine in a chilled voice.

"I…" Catherine was stammering again, faltering under Mab's piercing black gaze, but Sonata's hand closed suddenly around her arm, squeezing gently, and she felt a small flicker of reassurance. "Just…a kiss…"

She hadn't been sure how any one of the three rulers would react to his news, but she had suspected there would be some kind of moment of shock involved. And she wasn't entirely disappointed with the reactions she got. And while Mab's eyes widening didn't quite match up with the gasp of disbelief from Titania, it was still at least a reaction that suggested the Winter Queen was not at all prepared or glad to hear the words leave Catherine's mouth, and for a split second before anyone spoke Catherine braced herself for the hateful words that she was sure Mab would start throwing around, naming her a liar for daring to suggest her son would dare stoop so low as to ask for a kiss from something as filthy as a half blooded Cait Sith. But Mab did not speak, and merely stared at Catherine, disbelief clear in her expression for the few seconds she allowed it to show before she brought her walls back up and carefully sealed off any and all emotion.

"And?" she asked coldly, lifting her chin. "I would hope you didn't disgrace yourself by denying him his favor, half breed."

"No," Catherine murmured, shaking her head, her knees shaking with relief so she thought she might just crumple to the floor. She wasn't dead, yet. That was good. "No, I gave it to him, I just…it startled me so much that he asked such a thing at first that I pulled away from him and—"

"Pulled away?" Oberon's eyes flashed. "The Prince had his hands on you?"

Catherine turned to the Erkling, wide eyed, and was about to speak when Sonata cut across her.

"Yes," the sidhe answered in a curt voice. "I witnessed it myself when I went to search for Lady Catherine in the courtyard. The Prince had his arms around her and was keeping her practically trapped against him."

Catherine shot Sonata a desperate look, feeling the anger building in Mab as the Ice Queen's pitch black eyes rested on the sidhe's face, flashing vengeful fire.

"You dare accuse my son of being unseemly?" she asked in a voice that fairly dripped venom from every syllable.

"Not accuse, my Lady," Sonata said, inkling his head respectfully to the Queen, though his cerulean eyes were hard like flint as he met her gaze. "I merely state what I witnessed."

"And what else did you _witness_, knight?" Mab asked in a would-be sweet voice, flashing a predatory smile that didn't quite dispel the malevolence glittering in her eyes.

"That my Lady Catherine was injured and bleeding when I approached them," Sonata said, and Catherine had to stifle a groan as Mab drew herself up, looking nothing short of affronted, "And she confirmed for herself when I asked that the injury was not done by the satyrs. Also, when I pressed her further on the matter, she admitted to me that after she had sustained the injury, Prince Rowan proceeded to force her compliance that he be enabled to take her blood."

"You knave," hissed Mab, and Catherine gasped as the Queen lifted a hand, clearly intending to strike out at Sonata, but Oberon quickly inserted himself between the Winter Queen and his knight, and Mab's hand froze in mid-air, still quite ready to come swinging down for a cruel blow.

"Peace, Mab," Oberon said, his voice thundering with authority as he leveled a stare at the Unseelie Monarch. "The sidhe speaks only the truth."

"What truth?" spat Mab, clearly beyond containing her fury now, her dignity and that of her son clearly affronted. "There is no truth here! I see no wound upon the girl to speak of! And you dare to tell me that such an imagined wound was caused by my son? That he would even consider taking her filthy blood! No, this insult will go no farther, Oberon!"

"It's the truth," Catherine said, a burst of anger lending her courage so she stepped in front of Mab, her eyes narrowing at the Queen as the woman turned to stare at her. "Rowan attacked me, _and _he threatened Trinity! To be honest, I don't care what happens to him for attacking me, I really don't, but if you dare to let him put his hands on Trinity I swear—!"

"Catherine!" Sonata grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could say anything she would regret, and drawing her back as Mab gaped at her in astonishment.

Catherine allowed the knight to draw her back, though she shot him a look to which he offered an apologetic frown as he lowered his head to hers, his silvery hair brushing her cheek.

"It's enough," he whispered in her ear, a hand coming to rest on her waist, "And you wouldn't have gotten away with saying what you were about to…"

She nodded wordlessly, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, her momentary spurt of indignation fading quickly and leaving her weaker than she'd felt before, so she was leaning heavily into Sonata's supportive arms as Mab stared past Oberon towards her.

"Such cheek," the Queen snarled.

"Enough, Mab," Oberon snapped, and the ground trembled beneath them. In the great hall, silence fell immediately, the occupants clearly feeling the disturbance in power. "I will hear the girl out, and so far I have heard more than enough to outlaw Prince Rowan from ever appearing in this court again. Not only has he lowered himself so far as to attacking those under my protection, but he has even gone the extra step to threaten those I have sworn to keep safe."

"And where is your proof?" Mab half shrieked, her voice as harsh as a whip cracking, and the temperature in the normally temperate hall plunged so Catherine shivered, and, behind her on the wall, frost began to blossom and spread with loud cracking sounds. "Give me the proof!"

"You want proof, Lady?" Sonata asked, his tone even, but saturated with anger as he openly glared at Mab, his electric blue eyes flashing hateful fire at her, "Fine. Allow me to give you the proof you so desperately require."

He looked down at Catherine, his gaze mournful as he turned her swiftly to face him, his fingers clenching in the cloak around her.

"Forgive me, my Lady, for this offense," he murmured to her, and ripped the cloak from her shoulders, tossing it to the floor.

Catherine gasped as cold assaulted her now bared skin, though her injured shoulder did not quite feel the chill, as it still throbbed and burned, and as she gritted her teeth against the icy coldness now billowing around her without the protection of the cloak to stifle it, she heard a horrified gasp behind her, accompanied by a low oath in Fey from Oberon.

"There is your proof," said Sonata in a voice that Catherine almost didn't recognize for all the fury it harbored. "And if you still do not believe us, go ask your son. He cannot lie. He will tell you he is the cause so long as you ask him the right questions."

"Enough," said Mab in a low voice, and Catherine couldn't help but turn in surprise to hear the quavering note in the Queen's voice.

Mab was staring at Catherine, or, rather, at the vicious wounds and blood that painted the girl's back, and though Catherine knew she hadn't mistakenly heard the tremble in Mab's voice, the Queen's expression gave absolutely no indication she was feeling anything as she gazed blankly at Catherine's exposed back and shoulder.

"Enough," she murmured again, finally tearing her eyes from Catherine, and looking instead at Sonata, her lips drawn tight in a thin line. "I do not need to see or hear anymore…Nor do I wish to. This disgrace goes past what I am willing to accept. I will hear nothing else."

Catherine's heart plummeted. She had been afraid of that… Afraid that if they went the wrong way, or said the wrong thing, Mab would turn a deaf ear and a blind eye, and it looked like they had gone right ahead and done just what she'd been hoping to. Judging by the way Mab was slowly turning away, her expression completely guarded, their audience was well and done with, and Catherine knew in her sinking heart that they'd just lost their chance.

"Lady Mab," said Oberon, stepping forward, frowning at the Ice Queen, "You cannot simply turn your attention away from this. Prince Rowan has committed atrocities here that must be answered for."

"And so he will answer for them," said Mab in a curt voice, turning completely away from them, head held high. "As soon as we return to Tir Na Nog, I shall see to his punishment myself. But do not even consider interfering in this business, Oberon. No crimes have been committed against your people yet."

"Lady Catherine," Oberon began, anger crossing his face, but Mab cut him off smoothly,

"Paid her favor to my son and is not my concern. Consider that she had never set foot in the courtyard and simply remained by your side as she was meant to and none of this would ever have happened. I cannot be blamed for the stupidity of a half breed, and neither can Rowan. Now, if you will excuse me, I must speak with my son."

And with that the Queen swept out of sight, back into the still eerily quiet great hall, leaving Oberon, Titania, Sonata and Catherine standing in silence in the entrance, gazing after her.

Sonata was the first to move after Mab's self dismissal, bending down to pull his cloak from the floor and shake it out before carefully draping it back across Catherine's shoulders, taking care to cover her wounds and not jostle the injuries. Catherine looked up at the sidhe, her jade eyes over bright as they met his startlingly blue ones, and he offered a sad little smile.

"It was more than we could have hoped for," he murmured softly, only for her to hear, and she nodded, knowing he was right.

At least Mab seemed ready to take Rowan to task for what he had done tonight, and had been good enough to ignore Catherine's brazen little outburst, despite the fact she would have been in the right to demand some kind of recompense for it if she so desired. And that she had listened at all to them—though however reluctantly—was much more than Catherine would ever have expected from the Unseelie Queen. Even if Rowan didn't pay the kind of debt she felt he owed for what he'd done tonight, and might have done if left to his own devices, she couldn't imagine that Mab would be gracious about a direct defiance of her orders. Though she was more than a little surprised to hear that Mab had ordered she be left alone at all. Given a month ago, spending her time as captive to the Queen, she would have imagined Mab would have been only too grateful for Rowan's intervention, but it seemed she was wrong to think that. Mab, while not outwardly expressing it, had undoubtedly been shaken by the extent of Rowan's maliciousness when faced with it. And Catherine felt a little reassured at least with that.

"That is all we can ask of Lady Mab," Oberon murmured then, as though reading her thoughts, and she glanced back tentatively to see the Erkling turn his vibrant green eyes away from the hall to look down at her, his expression rather somber. "And while it is nowhere near what I would like to ask, it is all I have the right to ask for. She will deal with Rowan on her own terms, as he is her son. While it is true, as I can see, that he injured you and made threats against Lady Trinity, the laws state that I have no authority to hold him prisoner of punish him accordingly for the crimes. As he had not yet managed to carry out whatever harm he intended for Lady Trinity that is past the point."

Catherine nodded minutely, dropping her gaze to the floor and breathing a small sigh, half of relief, and half of regret. She wished she could be sure Rowan would be discouraged from any further encounters with her, if they ever had the misfortune to meet again, and that he'd keep his distance from Trinity, but she had a nagging suspicion in the back of her mind that while he might be persuaded to steer clear of Trinity, he might not be so keen on giving up on his pursuit of her, especially now that he knew she was of Winter. Which, now that she considered it, was something he might decide to bring up with Mab once they sat down for a little heart-to-heart about how she was going to punish him. Mab might not be able to make much out of Catherine's blood ties to Tir Na Nog, but she could at least make life very unpleasant for her, and that would probably give the Ice Queen as well as her son a great amount of satisfaction since she'd worked at making Rowan pay for his transgressions. Well, she'd cross that bridge when she got to it, if it ever decided to spring up, that was.

"Sonata," Oberon murmured then, and the sidhe knight went to attention at Catherine's side, eyes on his King's face. "Take Lady Catherine to her chambers. I will send the healer along to see to her wounds. Lady Trinity and Lady Nicolette will join her shortly as soon as Elysium is done with. I imagine it will not take much longer now that we have given Mab a reason to wish for a quick escape to deal with Rowan."

"Yes, your highness," murmured Sonata, bowing his head to Oberon, who gave a brief nod back, then turned to Titania, who had not so much as spoken a word since seeing Catherine's wounds.

Looking around at the Faery Queen when the woman didn't take the hand Oberon offered her, Catherine felt a thrill of shock to see Titania looking back at her with her sapphire blue eyes shining with something that looked oddly like sympathy. She even had one hand over her mouth, as though she was still too stunned to move it away from her lips, and when Oberon murmured softly to her she started, as though not realizing she had been frozen in time while the rest of the world went on. Turning briefly to Oberon, Catherine saw Titania's eyes flash up at the Erkling, who frowned in response, his eyes conveying what words couldn't, and though Catherine couldn't quite imagine what the two Monarchs were secretly telling each other, she fancied it had a little something to do with her.

But she didn't dwell on the idea long, as Sonata's hand gently nudged her side, and she turned away from Oberon and Titania to gaze up into the knight's mournful face, though he tried to smile as he drew her under his shoulder. His electric blue eyes seemed duller than usual as they shone through his snow white bangs.

"Let's get you to your room," he murmured, and after a cursory glance back towards Oberon and his Queen Catherine nodded and allowed him to usher her down the hall.

Behind her, the previously rowdy hall was still cloaked in silence, and she could just imagine the kind of rumors that were bound to start flying once Oberon and Titania got back inside to deal with the crowd. She wondered if Ash and Meghan would be let in on what had happened. It made sense that they would, but would Mab really want to give the Iron Monarchs a reason to look even less kindly on her than they already did, since she had disowned the now current Iron Prince so many years previously, and would basically now be both defending and disciplining her second son?

Well, whatever path Mab chose to take, and whether Oberon would really give her a choice in the matter—since he was just as privileged as she was to tell Meghan and Ash about what had happened—was entirely between them, and Catherine was really past caring what they all decided to do. Right now, all that really mattered to her was getting to her room, getting out of her torn and blood stained dress, and maybe taking some exceptionally strong pain killers, because the longer she stood around, the more her shoulder was beginning to give her grief, and the dizzier she was getting, either from sheer fatigue or because of the sluggish continuance of blood loss from the punctures in her shoulders. Maybe even both. Whatever the cause, by the time Sonata had turned the final corner and arrived at her room, she was practically needing him to carry her, and he seemed to sense as much as he drew level with the door. Glancing down at her as they drew level with the door, his blue eyes full of concern as she slouched even further and leaned yet more of her weight against him, he paused and gently turned her to look at him.

"My Lady, are you alright?" he asked softly, gently touching her chin to coax her into facing him.

"I hurt all over," she admitted wearily, offering a wan smile as he looked her over with an anxious gaze. "And I'm tired beyond belief…When I woke up this morning I didn't really imagine things going so far downhill so fast."

Sonata gave a short sight, sounding almost pained, and shook his head, his snow white tresses falling into his face with the movement.

"If I had been able to prevent this," he began quietly, his eyes brimming with regret.

"Stop," she murmured, lifting a hand to put two fingers against his lips, silencing him. "I don't want to hear that, okay? It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have gone off on my own. Whatever happened tonight, it was _not _your fault, so don't go apologizing, alright?"

Sonata looked like he'd rather continue to argue the point, but seeing the stern look she gave him, even in the midst of the pain and fear he knew to still be lingering in her mind and body had him reconsidering and he heaved a defeated sigh and shook his head, lifting his hand to gently clasp hers, pulling it down from his lips to smile sorrowfully at her.

"Alright," he agreed quietly, and bowed his head to kiss the back of her hand, frowning as he felt how she continued to tremble. "I won't…if that will make you feel better."

"It would," she said wearily, letting her eyes close as exhaustion crept up on her. "No one else needs to be blamed for the stupid things I do to myself."

"You didn't hurt yourself," Sonata said very softly, the faintest trace of anger stirring in his voice as he raised a hand to wrap smartly on the bedroom door. "Rowan did…"

"I don't want to think about it right now," she murmured as a low grumble issued from the other side of the door, alerting her to the fact that Demon was still there, and for a moment she felt her gut coil unpleasantly as she realized she now had to face her guardian… This was going to be a long night…

Sonata pushed the bedroom door open, his blue eyes still troubled as he helped her cross the threshold, one arm securely around her waist to take the majority of her weight as she moved sluggishly forward, feeling immediate warmth from the fire roaring in the hearth, and looking up, she saw Demon rolling out of bed—her bed—onto his feet, dressed in his usual black slacks, his yellow-green eyes blurry from sleep as he stretched and turned an about-face to meet them. The moment his eyes touched on her, all traces of exhaustion were gone, and in the next two seconds that it took him to cross the floor to stand in front of her, his expression darkened and his yellow-green eyes flashed with a mixture of concern and knowing anger as they raked over her. He reached out both hands as though to rest her from Sonata's grip, but the Summer sidhe casually inserted himself between the Cait Sith and Catherine, much to the surprise of the other two, and met Demon's critical gaze steadily as the Cait Sith leveled a rather mutinous glare at him.

"What has happened?" Demon asked, his voice fairly growling, and though he allowed Sonata to remain between him and Catherine he did not drop his outstretched hands.

"A lot," Sonata murmured, "And I will explain all of it, but right now we need to help her out of this dress and into the bath. She is injured and tired and needs to be in bed soon before she collapses."

Catherine could have told him before he even finished speaking that that was just about the worst phraseology he could have used in front of Demon, but she figured in the next few seconds that Demon took to narrow his eyes and exhale sharply that Sonata got the idea.

"Calm down," the fey said as Demon's hands clenched into fists and his eyes flashed yellow-green fire. "Let me explain."

"Hand her over," Demon all but snarled at Sonata, "_Now_. Human body or not, I will not hesitate to lay you out, boy."

"Demon, please," Catherine said, reaching out a hand to place it gently on his wrist, her jade eyes imploring as he turned his silver haired head to stare at her. "He said that really badly. Just let me change and wash and I'll explain everything."

Demon didn't look like he really liked that idea, or at least not the order in which she'd stated it, but he seemed to relent at least as he slowly lowered his fists and, though he still fixed Sonata with a mistrustful look, allowed the sidhe to lead Catherine over to the far door of the room, which led into the bathroom. Reflecting on it, Catherine realized it hadn't been that long since she'd been in the bathroom that morning, but somehow it seemed more like years than hours given the events of the night. Funny how time seemed to work that way…

When she stepped into the bathroom, Sonata briefly released her to go and run the hot water, and she took the moment separate from him to shrug out of his cloak again, wincing as the blood encrusted fabric chafed against her raw skin, which still trickled blood, though, for the most part, the major bleeding had stopped, and all that was left was the slow ache and occasional throb that took her breath away when she shifted her shoulder too immensely. She wondered just how much time it would take for the wounds to heal. The brambles hadn't been all that long, but they had been incredibly sharp, not to mention the shoulder was not the ideal place to wind up injured. One needed to keep moving the shoulder day in and day out, even just walking. She imagined it wouldn't take quite as long or be as painful to heal the wounds as it might if she were in the Mortal Realm, and she only hoped the fey healer would be able to give her some kind of relief.

A sharp hiss from behind her startled her immensely, and she turned, wide eyed, to find Demon standing frozen in the doorway, staring at her back as though he'd just been put face-to-face with some kind of monstrous beast, and the look of horror and disgust that twisted his face made her feel like crying all over again.

"It's not so bad," she whispered when he lifted his stricken gaze to hers.

"Not so bad?" he demanded, his voice rising several degrees until he was almost shouting. "What the _hell _happened?!"

"Keep your voice down, Cait Sith," Sonata said in a warning tone, stepping forward beside Catherine, his electric blue eyes narrowed, "Or you might just bring the rest of the palace running. It has already been dealt with, so please keep your temper and let her bathe before you go throwing a fit about it."

"Already been dealt with?" Demon spat, looking just about ready to break something, or several something's as his yellow-green eyes burned with fury, and his entire frame fairly shook with it. "Already been dealt with?!"

"Demon, please," Catherine pleaded, turning to him and reaching out a hand, "Please, just calm down."

"Right after I get some fucking answers," Demon snarled, his pupils suddenly narrowing, elongating, until she was staring into the enraged eyes of the Cait Sith. "Now, before I storm out of here to go have a word with his Royal Highness Oberon to demand why, as your escort, he seems to have done a very poor job of living up to the requirements of being your guard."

"It wasn't his fault, Demon," Catherine insisted, taking a shaky step forward to wrap her fingers around his forearm, though with his size compared to hers she didn't even come close to creating a proper manacle to keep him in place. "It wasn't anyone's fault except mine. I went off on my own."

"Who, Catherine?" Demon growled at her, his voice still radiating with barely caged fury, though she noticed at least that he seemed to be trying to make the effort to keep his place. "_Who_? And don't even think of trying to protect whoever the bastard was."

"I wouldn't," she said, her voice trembling faintly, "But you have to promise me you won't go running out of here to go confront him and cause more problems."

Demon didn't speak.

"Demon," she said, and her voice hardened, her grip tightening as much as it could on the bulk of his forearm as she stared him in the eyes. "I mean it. There's nothing else to be done, and I need to know you aren't going to go and get yourself an added punishment by confronting him!"

Demon hissed under his breath, a stream of expletives that she didn't quite make out and was probably glad she hadn't, and shook his head to his mess of silver hair went flying in all directions.

"Listen to her, Cait Sith," Sonata advised him in a quiet voice, "You will bring no help or justice if you lose yourself in a blind rage. You will only complicate matters and I know as her guardian you do not want any more trouble for her than I do."

Demon swung his head around to pin the Summer sidhe with a lethal stare of venom yellow and green, and to his credit Sonata did not flinch under the harsh glare, but simply stood at Catherine's side, watching Demon silently, waiting, his expression mellow, though the tightness of his jaw suggested he was just as furious as Demon, just managing to contain it much better.

"Fine," Demon sighed at last, his breath escaping in a furious huff, and Catherine sighed silently in relief. "I vow to keep my temper. Now, tell me what low life dared to do this to you in Oberon's court, under Oberon's watch."

Catherine hesitated now, still nervous to tell him when he looked so ready to just go gallivanting off like a knight for the crusades, but she knew he'd sworn to stay put, and he'd stay by that oath, even if it killed him a little inside to do it. Whatever he ended up thinking of what she said, he was bound to keep his station, whether he liked it or not.

"It was," she began, feeling her mouth go dry a little as she peered up into Demon's burning yellow-green eyes, "…Rowan…"

Demon's expression shut off, his eyes going from brightest yellow-green to something closer to dark ocher in a matter of seconds, and his jaw visibly tightened until she thought she heard the bones popping, and definitely heard the sound of his teeth grinding together.

"Don't move," Sonata warned the Cait Sith when it seemed like Demon would throw his oath straight out the window and bolt.

"I won't," growled the Cait Sith, though he certainly seemed to be contemplating it as he looked slowly over his shoulder towards the bedroom door with something alike to murderous longing in his gaze, "But if I do not hear that the bastard Prince received his deserved punishment someone will have hell to pay for it."

"Mab is seeing to it whenever they get back to Tir Na Nog," Catherine informed him, desperately hoping that would somewhat appease him.

Judging by his snort of derision it didn't, and she hurried to add,

"Either way, Oberon isn't happy about it, and I'm sure Mab will give Rowan what he deserves so no one else can say she brushes off punishment for her sons."

"Oberon isn't happy about it," Demon practically sneered, "Of course he isn't. He's just ruined his reputation as an escort and a guard. All he had to do was keep an eye on you! That was it! Send a fucking guard to look after you if you happened to move out of his sight!"

"It wasn't his fault," she said feebly, but at a look from Demon she stopped talking. There would be no convincing him. The Cait Sith was livid, and rightly so. In his position, she probably wouldn't have even kept her oath and would be halfway back to the great hall ready to lay a whooping on Rowan so bad that he'd never forget it, even if he lived for a thousand years or more.

"I do not give a damn whose fault it was or wasn't, Catherine," Demon told her in a deathly quiet voice, "This is unacceptable, and Oberon knows it. Now what I really want to know is just how it happened and why…"

Catherine swallowed hard, her hand beginning to tremble where it rested against his muscular arm, but before she could even consider how to start the tale again, Sonata had stepped forward and cut in front of her, forcing her to break contact with Demon.

"She is exhausted," the sidhe murmured quietly to Demon, who faced him with that look of furious indignation just as before, "She is injured. The healer will be here soon and she will have wanted to change and bathe before then. Also, Lady Nicolette and Lady Trinity will undoubtedly come running the minute they are excused from the hall and I don't think she wants either of them to see her like this. Now, if you would step out of the room and allow her her privacy, I would be glad to explain everything that happened, as I have already heard enough of the story to get the important details down. If you desire more detail later, I am sure Lady Catherine would be happy to supply them, but only _after _she has gotten rest. Or would you care to drag this out even further and put yet more pressure and stress on her when she has already gone past her breaking point several times in the past few hours?"

Demon didn't seem at first to react to the knight's words, but after a look at Catherine, taking in her pale, trembling appearance, and the tinge of blood that was visible on her shoulder, not to mention the tattered remains of her evening gown, he relented. Sighing softly, the fight going right out of his eyes to leave behind a kind of dull, pained defeat, he lowered his gaze to the floor and nodded mutely.

"Very well," he murmured, his voice subdued, though she could still hear the hint of anger there. "I will speak with you, knight. Catherine, we will be just outside if you need us."

She nodded back at him as he lifted his head to meet her jade eyes. She tried to smile, to reassure him somehow, but the muscles in her face seemed locked in place and she could only stare helplessly at him as he regarded her wearily for a long moment before nodding again and turning away, allowing Sonata to sweep him out of the bathroom.

"I will bring a gown for you, my Lady," Sonata murmured, looking back at her from behind his snow white bangs.

She felt her head bob uselessly in answer, currently seeming to have forgotten the proper elements of how to speak, and after a brief inclination of his white head Sonata stepped out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Just before the door closed, Catherine saw Demon look back, and saw pained remorse in his yellow-green eyes a split second before the door shut and she was left alone in the bathroom, ringed in steam and listening to the soft rushing of the fountain behind her. Finding herself cut off, alone, she finally felt the walls around herself crumbling down, and before she knew what was happening the tears were pouring down her face and she had both hands over her mouth to stifle the sounds of her sobs.

Every emotion she had somehow managed to lock out of her mind and heart suddenly came flooding in, apparently no longer held at bay by whatever barrier she'd managed to erect, and as she was swamped with the overwhelming abundance of pain, fear, anger and a million other nameless emotions she felt her knees give out and a moment later found herself on the floor, her hands braced against the cool marble of the floor, tears trickling from her burning eyes to drop onto the tile. Her lungs burned as she dragged air in between sobs, and her shoulder stung and ached with every tremor that ran through her body, and from holding up her weight as she leaned forward on her hands, her copper hair falling into her face in disarray.

She was choking on the myriad of emotion when she heard the creaking of the bathroom door, signaling Sonata's brief return, and though she didn't hear him speak or move, a moment later he was kneeling beside her, and the warmth of his palms was against her back and her arm, soothing and gentle.

"Cait Sith," she heard him call softly, and Demon entered the room, moving swiftly and silently to kneel on her other side.

"If I hadn't made that oath," Demon growled under his breath, ever the Cait Sith.

"She needs help right now, focus on your vengeance later," Sonata told him in a terse voice, his hand smoothing across Catherine's back, careful to avoid the wounds in her shoulder. "Take off her shoes, we'll need to get her into the bath."

Demon didn't move, and instead gave a small snort as he lifted his head to cock an eyebrow at the knight.

"You might have been her Prince Charming all those years ago, knight, but you've got a lot of catching up to do," he said coolly. "If you really think she's going to let us strip her down and help her into the tub, you might want to try again."

"Well, it's either that or she goes in in her clothes," Sonata retorted, sounding impatient. "She's completely emotionally worn down right now. If we don't help her—"

"Oh, move," snapped a voice suddenly, familiar and not at all what Catherine expected to hear as the authoritative click of high heels marched into the room. "As if you have any right to be undressing her, old friend or not! Out, the both of you!"

Sonata and Demon hurriedly skittered out of the way as Lady Weaver swatted at them with long, spindly hands, her dark eyes reprimanding them without words as she came to kneel in front of Catherine, who lifted her tear soaked face to stare at the seamstress as the woman tsked and threw aggravated looks at Sonata and Demon as the two males moved idly towards the bathroom door.

"You heard me!" the seamstress barked as she noticed the two lingering uncertainly in the doorway. "Out! I don't care what relations either of you have with this young woman, you are not her husbands, so you have no right to be laying eyes on her naked person!"

Looking much like two schoolboys who'd just gotten lectured, though still concerned as they glanced back at Catherine, Sonata and Demon finally slid out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them as Lady Weaver turned back to Catherine, who was staring up at the woman in a mixture of stunned disbelief and gratitude.

"Oh, what a mess," sighed the seamstress, one hand fluttering over the tattered remnants of Catherine's dress. "Really, satyrs. I've told Oberon a thousand times they have no respect for my work or who wears it and he should just be rid of the lot of them, but, no, he won't listen to me."

She gave an indignant huff and shackled her long, spider-like fingers around Catherine's upper arms, gently drawing the girl to her feet and steadying her as she began to undo the fastenings—or what was left of them—and slipping Catherine out of the wreckage of black velvet and spider silk.

"Why are you here?" Catherine asked, her voice rasping as she spoke through tears.

"Because I am," said Lady Weaver with a small sniff, bending down to slip Catherine's shoes from her small feet. "And I wasn't about to leave you in the hands of a pair of barbaric men."

She gave a delicate shudder as though the very thought was repugnant, and tossed the dress and shoes aside, now helping Catherine over to the bath and holding her arm as the girl slipped carefully into the steaming water. As the water touched her open wounds, Catherine gave a small whimper of pain that quickly turned to a cry as the raw skin was assaulted by both heat and herbal liquids that burned and stung until new tears came to her eyes.

"Just breathe through it," Lady Weaver told her in a soothing voice, keeping hold of her arm and pressing down firmly on her good shoulder when she might have bolted from the bath. "We need to wash this blood off of you, and it will hurt, but you need to bear with it."

Catherine gave a small sob, trying to fight back the pain, not quite managing, and braced herself as Lady Weaver filled one of the small basins nearby with water still jetting from the fountain and setting it to the side, dropping a white cloth into it until it was thoroughly soaked.

"Just breathe," the seamstress reminded her calmly as she picked up the sodden cloth and brought it to Catherine's shoulder.

Catherine was tempted to just hold her breath, and even closed her eyes as she felt the first trickles of water slipping down her back, but managed to keep her breathing even until Lady Weaver squeezed out the moisture of the cloth, pouring it down her back, and then she was fighting back a scream as the water burned like acid across her back and she arched away with a gasp of pain.

"Bear it," Lady Weaver said, keeping a tight grip on her other shoulder and pulling her back to douse her in more water, turning the water a rose color as blood washed off into it.

That was easy for her to say, Catherine thought, dropping her head forward, tears trickling from her eyes at the pain that managed to wipe out everything else from her mind.

Still breathing hard through her nose, clutching at the side of the tab as Lady Weaver drenched her shoulder in yet more warm water, occasionally brushing the cloth across the more persistent stains of blood that had caked or congealed, Catherine tried to focus on anything else to distract her from the pain. It wasn't really all that difficult, which she suspected was not a good thing when one could easily find something more painful to focus on then what felt like having iodine dropped into open wounds. But given the past hour or however long it had been—because she really couldn't honestly say she knew how much time had passed—and just what had happened and almost happened to her, she guessed she couldn't be surprised.

She'd been dragged into a dance by a Winter Prince she had thought she had gotten over, then emotionally worn down to the point she had actually broken apart in the Prince's arms, been rescued by a knight, run off on her own, then set upon by satyrs, nearly raped, rescued by another Prince she'd thought had had a genuine change of character, only to be sadly mistaken, then set upon by aforementioned other Prince, threatened, injured, humiliated, and then left to make her way back to the castle with Sonata to endure a confrontation with Mab. Really, her encounter with Mab didn't even bother her anymore. The Ice Queen hadn't turned her into a frozen sculpture or iced her lips shut, so that was definitely the plus side of every bad thing that had happened. Still…she felt really that all the bad this time managed to outweigh the good.

Sniffling, though less from the physical pain now, she dropped her head onto her arms as she leaned against the edge of the bath, and let the tears flow from her eyes to mix in the bloodied water, her hands clenching into weak fists, trying to anchor herself as images ran through her minds, a vivid, painful replay of the entire night. Rowan's face was a prominent image in her head, his face sneering and arrogant, and the hazel eyed satyr swam before her mental vision, causing her to shudder and Lady Weaver to murmur reassuringly, thinking it was from the pain of her wounds. But while the lead satyr and Rowan danced like devils around her mind's eye, another face appeared, regal and handsome and everything she loved and hated all at once. She'd been blocking the memories of Sage for so long, and had been trying especially hard tonight, knowing he'd be close by, but she knew she couldn't bar them anymore, and let them come pouring in on her along with everything else.

Even now, possibly hours after their dance, she could feel his hands on her, gentle and sure as they guided her around the floor in a dance that left her head spinning, and his piercing emerald eyes were locked on her face, seeing straight into her soul, where he'd placed himself unknowingly, because of something he'd taken just a month before. Something everyone else took for granted, deemed inconsequential, but something she could never look at either way, no matter how hard she tried. Just a kiss, or so someone else might have thought. But that kiss was still burned into her memory, and though she'd feared Rowan's forced kiss might wipe the memory clean out of her head, she'd been wrong to think it. While Rowan's kiss had bruised and hurt, she could hardly recall what his lips had felt like on hers, just that there had been pain. Of course, there had been pain in Sage's kiss, too, but of the emotional variety, rather than the physical, and, as she'd learned through every cliché chic-flick she'd ever suffered through in the Mortal Realm, emotional scars ran deeper than the physical ones, and you never forgot them.

She had proof of that now, lying with her head on her arms, tears running down her face, and the prominent feel of Sage's cool lips against hers, the sweet flavor flooding her mouth again, making her swallow convulsively in an effort to dispel it with no results. It still lingered, making her remember, and she let herself remember. She was done trying to forget…even if it hurt…she had to remember, or she'd eventually come apart from the inside out. She just recalled what her mother had always told her, _"…It's hard, and it hurts…but don't ever think you can't beat it."_

She had thought she could beat it by forgetting it had ever happened, or at least pretending it didn't hurt like hell to think about it, but that had been childish of her. Nearly a month gone by and she had been foolish enough to think she could ever get over it or forget it. She knew herself better than that, but maybe in her delirium she'd thought something about being part Cait Sith, part of a creature unable to feel love, would be able to protect her…well, that just wasn't the case. Whatever she was, whether half or whole, she was still her. Nothing would change that. And nothing would change the fact that seeing Sage tonight had hurt like all hell.

She sniffled quietly, rubbing her watering eyes against her arm, wiping tears away, and wincing as Lady Weaver brushed the damp cloth across her back, cleaning away the last of the congealed blood before leaning back with a small sigh.

"There," the seamstress murmured, dropping the cloth back into the now moderately empty basin. "That should do it. If you can, get out and dry off, and I'll get your gown ready for you to change into. I imagine by now your two guards are about to lose their mind worrying how much I've tormented you in here."

Catherine lifted her head, pushing a shaky hand through her now disheveled copper tresses and looking up to watch Lady Weaver as the woman moved away to pick up the small bundle of sky blue fabric that was her gown from the corner by the door.

"Well, come on," the seamstress said brusquely, turning back to her and frowning to see Catherine still standing in a daze in the bath. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to just climb into bed and be done with the night, there is an audience waiting for you, and you must deliver. Be glad that they won't be asking you to entertain them, at least."

Catherine blinked hazily up at the woman as Lady Weaver marched back over to stand over her, holding the blue gown in her spindly fingers.

"Out," the seamstress commanded, snapping her fingers. "I'm sure your back is aching, but the healer won't be able to help you much if you just tread water like some washed up mermaid."

Catherine nodded mutely and carefully pulled herself out of the tub, wincing as her shoulder throbbed, though she noticed with some relief that the pain wasn't quite as bad as it had been, and wondered vaguely if the herbs in the water had helped soothe the pain to some degree.

"Here." Lady Weaver dropped a towel on her head so for a moment she was blinded by white cloth. "Dry off quickly. I hear more arrivals and not all of them are as friendly as your guards."

Catherine pulled the towel down from her face to stare up at the seamstress, then turned to look at the door as she heard the distinct sounds of men speaking beyond it, though the words were not audible and she couldn't quite make out who was speaking. From here, they all sounded the same, though she felt an unpleasant fluttering of her stomach that had her heart kicking into higher gear as she carefully dried herself, careful not to rough up her shoulder, then setting the towel aside to step into the blue gown that Lady Weaver as holding ready for her.

"Who's out there?" she asked uncertainly as the seamstress did up the few fastenings running up the back of the gown.

"Oberon," said Lady Weaver, unconcerned as she took another clean towel and dabbed gently at the punctures on Catherine's shoulder, which had started to well with fresh blood, threatening to stain the dress.

"Just Oberon?" asked Catherine, not quite convinced of that, since she was quite sure she could hear more than just three men speaking.

"Well, Robin Goodfellow is with him as well," sniffed Lady Weaver, throwing a glance at the door and then looking back at Catherine, pausing for a moment before attempting to straight the girl's damp mess of hair into a more suitable appearance around her pale face, "And Prince Ash, as it seems Oberon passed on the word to the Iron Monarchs before coming to speak with you again."

"And that's it?" Catherine asked tentatively as Lady Weaver took her by the arm and began to steer her towards the door.

"Well, Mab's eldest bastard is here as well," said Lady Weaver with a disdainful frown, "But I doubt he will say much. Probably just here to confirm what his mother has already witnessed."

Catherine felt like she might just vomit. Sage was in the room…just outside of the bathroom…waiting for her. Why was he here?

"Here we are," Lady Weaver announced grandly as she flung open the bathroom door, revealing a whole room of people to Catherine, immediately making her wish she could just go back and hide in the bathroom, maybe even drown in the tub. "Now, I don't want anyone making a big fuss, or making a nuisance of themselves. This girl has had more than enough trauma for one night, and I will thank each one of you to mind your manners or you'll end up strung along the ceiling like those heinous satyrs."

If it weren't for how ill Catherine was feeling as what felt like a thousand eyes turned on her, she might have stopped long enough to thank Lady Weaver for dealing with the satyrs, and maybe even to laugh at the idea of the herd strung up in giant spider webs along the ceilings of the palace. But as things were, she was already weak in the knees, and only her hand pressing into her stomach was keeping her from allowing the nausea to overwhelm her. The first people she saw, and the first to rush forward to her were the people she wanted to see, and as Nikki and Trinity converged on her, crying out in worry and relief to see her she fell gratefully into their open arms as Lady Weaver finally released her.


	23. Chapter 23

"My God, Cat," Trinity whispered, hugging Catherine tightly, though she avoided Catherine's injured right side entirely—a sign that she'd already heard the news, as well as being able to see the damage herself. "Don't ever scare us like that again! When Sonata came and told Oberon what happened I thought I might end up dead for attacking Rowan."

"I'm glad someone held you back, then," Catherine said, smiling through the small amount of tears welling in her eyes.

"You're welcome," Puck said from across the room, offering a smile that didn't quite make it all the way into his emerald eyes. His expression was subdued, and she could tell just by looking at the way he stood, arms folded tightly over his chest, and the way he turned to look into the fire with a brooding expression that he had also heard the news, and was not pleased. "And, while you're at it, thank Nikki for holding _me _back, otherwise we'd all be in serious shit for sure."

Catherine gave a small giggle as she turned to Nikki, who was giving a strained smile even as she brushed a hand over her friend's copper tresses.

"He wanted to gut Rowan right there in the great hall," Nikki explained with a watery smile, diamond tears sparkling in her chocolate colored eyes. "I told him he was welcome to it, so long as he didn't mind leaving me to deal with his funeral and all that crap. He thought better of it after that and then helped me keep Trinity in her seat until Oberon said we could come see you."

"I'm glad you both managed to keep from killing anyone," Catherine said, and Nikki and Trinity both gave sheepish smiles, though Trinity's sapphire eyes were hard and held an anger that Catherine was slowly getting familiar with.

"I just hope Mab gives him just the kind of punishment he deserves for this," the blond muttered in a low voice, shaking her head, the smile disappearing from her face in an instant. "I'd do it myself, but, unfortunately, I don't have that much authority in court."

"Rest assured, Rowan will be properly dealt with," said a low voice, and Catherine felt a shiver run down the length of her spine as her jade eyes flicked over to the corner by the fire, just hidden in a bit of shadow, to where Sage lounged with one hip resting against the wall, arms folded over his chest, with Bane seated at his side like a giant gray shadow. "Mab does not take direct defiance of her orders well, especially not from her sons. We were instructed to leave you be if you were ever discovered, regardless of where, and she is fully prepared to discipline him for going against her wishes."

"Good," said Trinity coldly, turning to look at the Winter Prince as well, her expression dark with anger. "Especially after what he pulled tonight. I don't like being threatened personally, but I'd sooner take death threats than let anyone get away with the shit he pulled on Catherine tonight."

Sage did not respond, merely inclining his head slightly in Trinity's direction as though to assure her that he'd heard, but Catherine felt her heart lodge in her throat as he lifted his icy emerald eyes to look straight at her, his expression carefully neutral, though she thought she saw a flicker go through his gaze as he narrowed his eyes.

"I came to apologize on brother's behalf," he murmured, as though explaining his reason for being present. "Since I regret to say that he will not offer any such condolence and Mab would not permit him near you again even if he wished to."

"It wasn't your fault," Catherine mumbled, feeling herself choke a little on the lump in her throat as she forced herself to speak to the Winter Prince, unbidden memories creeping forward from the edges of her mind to taunt her. Her lips tingled slightly, and she had to bite down hard on her lower lip to keep from giving in to the urge to touch it.

"It isn't a matter of fault, my Lady," Sage told her in that low, even voice of his voice, his eyes narrowing further. "It is a matter of dignity, and yours has been tarnished by foolish acts committed by a member of the Winter royalty. I am merely here as a medium to convey the apology that should be offered for his slights, though I know it can't possibly amount to enough to repay you for the trials you've suffered."

Catherine wanted to tell him it didn't matter, but something in the back of her mind warned her to stay silent and nod, so she did just that.

"Thank you," she murmured quietly, bowing her head in Sage's direction, though it was more for a reprieve of looking into his piercing eyes than out of respect that she did so.

Sage nodded back to her, also silently, and turned his attention then to Oberon.

"I will take my leave now," the Prince said to the Erkling. "Mab is waiting for me outside so that we may leave immediately for Tir Na Nog."

"Of course," murmured Oberon, inclining his head in dismissal to Sage. "Give Mab my respects and an apology that Elysium could not last longer."

"I am sure her majesty will understand this time around," Sage said, a semblance of a smile curving his mouth as he moved away from the hearth towards the door, Bane trailing silently behind him. "And I am sure as well that she will be in touch soon regarding plans for the next Elysium in just a few short months, as well as the Exchange for the Scepter."

"I will wait for her to send word to me, then," Oberon said.

Sage offered a brief nod and a bow to the Erkling, only pausing a moment more to incline his head respectfully towards Trinity and Nikki, before turning on his heel and striding from the room with Bane following close behind. No sooner had the two Winter fey departed from the room than Demon and Puck both gave identical sighs of relief, and Trinity also exhaled slowly, as though letting out whatever breath she'd been holding in Sage's presence. Catherine realized she _was _holding her breath and slowly let it out, her eyes still fixed solidly on the ground, trying to keep herself stable as she forced herself not to look at the door where Sage had disappeared.

She felt Nikki's hand squeeze her arm briefly, and glanced up to see her friend watching her through attentive brown eyes, immediately giving her the sensation that she was being x-rayed, and she looked away again before Nikki could read too much more in her open expression.

"I'm surprised Mab sent Sage to apologize in Rowan's place," Meghan murmured, having been entirely silent the entire time, and now speaking up, her blue-green eyes resting thoughtfully on the door where Sage had departed before flitting up to Ash's face as the Iron Prince gave a lame shrug.

"She probably felt it was a formal necessity," he guessed in an almost bored voice, also sounding slightly disgusted. "She's all for appearances, of course, and having to face the fact that Rowan has disgraced her like this is sure to have taken a hit on her dignity and ego. If she didn't send Sage to apologize formally in hers and Rowan's place it would stir all kinds of talk, and the last thing she'd want is rumors flying around that she has no consideration for the proper etiquette owed to someone who has been humiliated by her own flesh and blood, even if she only looks at Catherine as a half breed with no value to her."

"I don't care who she sent to apologize or why," said Trinity coldly, her expression still clouded with anger and indignation as she looked over at Ash, "Just that she did. And she owes Cat a hell of a lot more than this, especially since she specifically told everyone in Tir Na Nog not to bother Cat if they ever found her again. Rowan totally blew that out of the water. She should at least apologize herself."

"We are lucky beyond imagining that Mab even listened to us, Lady Trinity," murmured Oberon softly, casting a look of censure at the girl, who looked slightly ashamed but nevertheless kept her head up and her gaze firm as she met Oberon's sharp green eyes, "And even more so that she sent any of her sons to offer their apologies. She could easily have sent one of her personal servants to do so, but in sending Sage she has made it the most personal offer she can manage while still upholding her dignity."

"Because her dignity is so important…"

The snide remark came from Demon, who was perched on the edge of the nearby bed, arms crossed over his chest, his yellow-green eyes slitted almost to the point they were closed as he glared around the room, clearly beside himself in anger, though judging by the similar expressions of anger and frustration on both Puck's, Sonata's, Trinity's and Nikki's faces they weren't far behind him on the whole hating Mab and Rowan deal.

"Mind how you speak, Cait Sith," Oberon said warningly to Demon, who looked so unconcerned that Catherine almost wondered in a moment of fear if Oberon would sentence the Cait Sith to a worse punishment than he'd forced Demon to endure for the past two weeks trapped in a human body. But the Erkling didn't seem keen on dealing out punishments, and merely sighed as he faced the Cait Sith's furious gaze. "I understand you wish to see to the girl's safety and were unable to do so—"

"Because that was _supposed _to be your job," Demon growled in a low voice at the Summer King, who tensed, "And we've all seen how well _that _went over, haven't we, your highness?"

"Demon," Catherine whispered frantically, sensing Oberon's power growing in direct proportion to his irritation at being called out by the Cait Sith, but Demon merely snorted and turned away as Oberon fixed him with a steely glare.

"You'd be wise to watch your mouth, cat," the Erkling said in a menacing voice.

"I might be inclined to," Demon said idly, inspecting a design in the ceiling over his head with obvious disinterest, "If it weren't for the fact that you completely failed to uphold your end of the bargain in keeping Catherine safe and your threats and promises aren't worth an ounce of my respect or attention anymore. You promised to keep her safe from Rowan and Mab, and look where that protection has landed her."

Catherine wanted to moan at Demon's belligerence, but when it seemed Oberon might just lash out at the Cait Sith in anger, Puck pushed himself off the wall and stepped between the King and Cait Sith, turning—not to Demon in defense of his Lord—but to Oberon, his emerald eyes narrowed as he drummed his fingers on his arm, and giving the Erkling a look of pure disdain.

"What are you doing, Robin?" Oberon asked in a low voice, his expression bemused and slightly alarmed to see his right hand man giving him such a look of disregard and annoyance.

"Siding with him," said Puck simply, jerking his head back at Demon. "To be honest, I'm kind of pissed off—no, scratch that, that's understating it—I am royally pissed off. With all due respect, _my Lord_, I seem to remember you making a solid promise to keep Catherine safe so long as Trinity upheld her end of the deal, which required her to spend a full five minutes in the arms of that Winter bastard—and she did—so why does it seem like your side of the bargain fell through the floor and straight into hell. Just wondering."

Oberon looked stunned, and no one in the room could blame him for it. After all, Puck might be known to have his rebellious streak, and Oberon had been known to forgive it time and time again, but outright defiance like this was something entirely different, and even Nikki was staring in open mouthed disbelief at the fiery haired fey, her chocolate brown eyes enormous.

"Well, damn," Ash muttered, also looking half impressed and half stunned as he gave Puck an appreciative glance.

"I will admit," Oberon said slowly, one he'd gotten his voice back, "That I am at fault for not keeping a closer eye on Lady Catherine, as that was my task for the night as her escort. It is more than accurate to say that I could easily be the main reason that she fell into harm's way—"

"'Could' isn't even part of the equation anymore," Puck said tersely, narrowing his emerald eyes to angry slits. "'Could' went right out the window the minute when you didn't send someone after Catherine when she left the hall. You _are _the main reason she fell into harm's way."

"Easy, Goodfellow," Demon murmured warningly, though how the Cait Sith got off with telling Puck to ease up on his back talking Oberon was beyond anyone considering how he himself had just been acting.

"You know what?" Puck sniped, turning to fix Demon with a rather dark glare, "Shut the hell up and let me talk. I am about ready to tear someone's gizzard out for a couple of damn good reasons, and I'd just like to hear why one of those reasons even became a reason when Catherine was supposed to be under the protection of one of the Nevernever's most powerful rulers, if it's all the same to everyone else. Because, silly me, I was sitting on my ass thinking that when someone got Oberon's protection, that kind of solidified into a death wish for anyone who might want to go against that protection, but since the bastard Winter Prince managed to sidle right on by the line of defense without a hitch and isn't even getting a good beating for it, I'd just like to hear _why _I shouldn't be pissed off beyond all hell!"

Silence followed his words, and everyone was staring at Puck as the faery shot a vicious look around the room, daring anyone else to speak up against him, but no one was stupid enough to take on Robin Goodfellow when he was in a rage. Well…except Nikki…but it wasn't from stupidity that she detached herself from Catherine and moved forward to stand between Oberon and Puck, whose emerald eyes flashed to hers, though when he might have opened his mouth to shout some more he stopped when he saw just who it was.

"You've got every right to be pissed off," Nikki told him, and her voice shook slightly as she faced him, feeling a little jolt in her heart as she realized that—for once in all the time she'd known Puck—she hadn't ever seen him look so murderous or violent. He looked every bit the vicious faery everyone feared, the vengeful spirit that would swoop down and wreak havoc on anyone foolish enough to incur his wrath, and she felt her heart give a little flutter as his normally vibrant green eyes darkened with predatorily as he looked past her to Oberon, still very intent on letting his anger out on the Summer King. "Puck, look at me, okay? You've got every right to be pissed off, but you've got to stop and think that you're not the only one who is. Trinity wanted to gut Rowan for what he did, and I know you did, too, and, to be honest, I still do, and I'd like to bitch slap Mab clean across the cosmos for letting Rowan get away with what he did, even if she _says _she'll give him what he deserves when they get home. But for a second just stop and think about how it's going to help anything if you go off like a bomb. It's been done and we can't undo it, and just taking it out on Oberon or whoever isn't going to change that. So, please, please, _please_ just take a breath and let's just talk this out."

"Nikki," said Puck in a low voice, his gaze flashing dangerously at her, "I know you aren't stupid enough to be standing there telling me to just let this shit fly out the window because it happened and it's done with."

"You're right, I'm not," she said, feeling her lower lip quiver slightly as he took an almost threatening step towards her, closing the already short distance between them. "I'm not telling you to drop it, I'm telling you not to beat Oberon into the floor because I'm pretty sure that's half of what Rowan wants, and Mab would be only too happy to hear that you turned on Oberon because her son got away with hurting Catherine."

Puck seemed to pause at her words, letting them flow into his head, and Nikki waited with slightly baited breath, her head tilted back so she could stare into his dark emerald eyes, watching them flicker with the internal conflict between his wiser half that told him she was right, and the other half of him that was still all for going right at Oberon's throat.

"Please," she murmured, reaching out a tentative hand for his, glad when he didn't jerk back at her touch, allowing her to curl her fingers gently around his own.

He stared back at her, his expression so torn between what he wanted and what he knew to be better for all of them, and for a brief moment she watched as his pained emerald eyes flickered up to look from Oberon to Catherine, though Nikki couldn't tell what either of the others' expressions looked like as Puck turned back to her with a heavy sigh and—taking another short step forward—dropped his head on top of hers, muttering a low oath.

"Fuck it," he said dully. "Just fuck it…I can see very obviously that I'm not going to get away with gutting and skinning a Winter Prince, or that sorry bastard behind you…"

"I'm sorry," Nikki apologized, trying not to smile as he lifted a hand to pat his head, running her fingers thoughtlessly through his silky red hair. "Maybe next time."

"Ha!" snorted Puck, head jerking up so he could roll his eyes in a grand display of chagrinned disbelief. "'Next time'. What shit…if there's a next time of this, I _will _skin, gut and murder someone, and not necessarily in that order."

"Then you'd be doing them a favor if you murdered them first," Ash commented idly from his corner, looking a little less tense now that Puck had been reigned back in.

"Fuck it," said Puck again, dropping his head back on Nikki's shoulder and groaning. "This shit just sucks ass…"

"You cuss a lot when you're pissed off," Nikki observed with a shrewd glance down at him, her brown eyes sparkling with the faintest trace of laughter.

"Oh, you haven't even heard the beginnings of it," grumbled the faery, a dark smirk curving his lip. "Now, Ash has heard me cuss. Just ask him. I could make a whole armada blush."

"And cry," Ash added with a wry smirk thrown in his rival's direction. "I almost didn't recover at first when I heard him, I don't think I've ever heard another faery in all the Nevernever use such foul language. Goodfellow is a breed all his own when it comes to being creative with words when he's good and mad."

"Hmph," snorted Puck, nuzzling his face into the crook of Nikki's shoulders.

"Well, now that's that out of the way," said Lady Weaver abruptly, a startling reminder that she was in the room as she strode forward, her beady eyes fixed on Puck, though they occasionally passed over Oberon, "Either make yourselves useful or get out, all of you. The healer just arrived and he needs all the focus he can get and that means no massive audiences to make his life more difficult! Shoo!"

She waved her hands at the small crowd of people, sweeping Oberon, Ash, Meghan, and Sonata before her as she herded them towards the door, ignoring their startled and slightly affronted looks as she pushed them. Nikki hesitated to move and looked at Catherine, who was still standing with Trinity's arms around her, looking weary and pale as she leaned into the blond girl.

"I'll stay and help," Nikki said at once, gently sliding away from Puck to go stand by her two friends, placing a hand on Catherine's arm. "However I can, anyway."

Catherine shot her friend a grateful look, and Nikki smiled back.

"Fine," sniffed Lady Weaver, striding back into the room and seizing a rather startled Puck by the scruff of his tunic, "And Lady Trinity may remain as well, but you, Mr. Goodfellow, are _leaving_."

"Wha—?" Puck sputtered in alarm and disbelief, staggering backwards as Lady Weaver yanked him forcefully along behind her, his emerald eyes wide and beseeching as he stared at Nikki. "Well, don't just let her take me like this! I want to help, too!"

"No," said Lady Weaver sternly before Nikki could leap to his defense. "You'll bring as many hazards as help right now, Goodfellow, and the ladies need their time alone, now come along."

"This is such bull!" Puck exclaimed in outrage as he was dragged slowly from the room, wriggling and struggling every step of the way. "If I have to go, the cat does, too!"

"Because she's really going to move me," said Demon with a snort of disbelief, rolling his yellow-green eyes as he lounged casually on the bed, arms folded over his chest.

"You think I won't?" demanded Lady Weaver, pushing Puck into the hallway before turning on her heel and striding right back across the room to seize an alarmed Demon by his arm and pulling him from the bed. "You're just as much a man as the rest of them, and you are no more allowed to be in here during the girl's treatment, so scram!"

"What the hell," Demon was muttering, turning to stare in disbelief at Catherine, as though he couldn't really believe she was going to let a psychotic seamstress remove him from the premises.

"Sorry," she mumbled, shrugging helplessly, and offering a tentative smile, "I promise you can have the bed when you come back."

"That's the way to a Cait Sith's heart," chuckled Trinity as the stunned looking Demon was drawn from the room, and Lady Weaver slammed the door behind them. "Let him curl up at the end of your bed."

"For Demon, it practically is the way to his heart," sighed Nikki, shaking her head at the now closed door, a weary smile on her face. "But let's worry about him later. Where's the healer?"

She began to look around, trying to spot the sidhe who had been called upon to tend to Catherine's wounds, and received a great shock when something whacked her smartly across the knees, and a reedy voice screeched from the floor,

"Down here!"

All three girls looked down as one, their eyes widening in shock as they found themselves faced with possibly the wrinkliest little elf they had ever seen in all their lives. He was hunched over, leaning on a walking stick no bigger than a pointer for a blackboard, and stood—at his tallest—only two and a half feet tall, maybe three if he decided to straighten up out of his slouch, but he didn't seem to have an interest in it as he eyed them with beady black eyes, staring up at them from under thick, bushy gray eyebrows that reminded Nikki a little of fuzzy caterpillars. He wore a simple brown tunic that covered all the rest of his bodies, except his toes, which protruded slightly from under the hem, all gnarled and knobby. His hands were like Lady Weaver's in how spindly they appeared, but they also boasted liver spots and deep wrinkles, and Trinity felt it was a wonder they didn't shake from age or fatigue as he gripped his cane.

"Well, don't stand their gawkin' like a bunch of guppies," snapped the elf, whacking at Nikki's knees again with his miniature walking aid. "Bring her over to the bed! Hurry up! Otherwise those wounds will start festerin' and then I won't hear any complaints about it!"

Exchanging startled and bemused looks with Catherine and Trinity, Nikki gently helped her friend over to the bed, setting her down on it and stepping away as the little healer came pushing through, swinging his cane smartly at their ankles so they hurried to step out of his intended path.

"Now then," he sniffed, lifting a hand and snapping his withered fingers so a stool appeared out of nowhere beside the bed, allowing him to ascend to Catherine's level. "Turn this way, girl, and let's have a look at the damage then…Don't squirm like that, I haven't even touched you yet!"

No, he hadn't, but Catherine wasn't looking forward to when he did, and her back was already throbbing in anticipation of whatever pain might be added in to the equation, and she couldn't help but tense a little as she turned so her back was to the old healer elf, who gave a low whistle as he assessed the puncture wounds in her back with a critical stare.

"My, my," he tutted, shaking his head and grimacing, "This is probably the worst anyone's accidentally impaled themselves on that gate in my memory. Why Oberon doesn't incorporate a safety mechanism for those foolish enough to end up against it without meanin' to is beyond me, especially guests of the court."

He snorted disdainfully, shaking his head again so his pointed ears quivered slightly with the movement.

"You can still help her, can't you?" Trinity asked uncertainly, and the healer turned to give her an almost offended look.

"Of course I can," he snapped, and she flinched away, "What do you take me for, incompetent? Hmph! People these days…no respect from you young bloods."

"Sorry," muttered Trinity, looking a little annoyed at his short temper as he turned firmly away from her to tend to his patient. She didn't receive anything more than a noncommittal grunt from the elf as he gently began to probe along Catherine's back, occasionally getting a small hiss of discomfort as he touched on a particularly raw spot, at which both Nikki and Trinity would tense until Catherine gave them a reassuring look.

"If you two are going to keep twitching like a pair of nervous tatter-colts," the healer snapped after around the fourth or fifth time it happened, apparently losing his patience as he rounded on the pair of girls, "Then git! I can't concentrate with you two catchin' your breath every coupl'a seconds when she decides to get a bit antsy about the treatment!"

"It's hurting her," Nikki protested, also feeling her temper flare in response to the healer's apparent lack of concern for the pain he was causing Catherine.

"Tough luck," snorted the healer, turning his large, protuberant nose up at her, "I imagine it hurt ten times as badly when she got herself stuck with the briars in the first place, and she would do well to remember that if she thinks this is so bad!"

Nikki was just about ready to take the haler by one large, pointed ear and give him a piece of her mind on how she thought things, but Trinity quickly saw the danger and put a warning hand on her arm to stay her when she might have jumped forward as the healer turned back to Catherine, continuing his experimental poking along the injured area. Catherine shot her friend a grateful look, though she continued to wince and whimper occasionally as the healer touched on a raw spot, though she did her best to do as he'd said and remember just how badly it had hurt when she'd inflicted the injury, though she had to be careful not to remember just what had come after that pain.

All in all, his inspection took a good ten minutes, with the occasional mutter punctuating the silence as he spoke to himself, clearly analyzing and prescribing whatever came to his mind, and after he'd satisfied himself with poking at her he sniffed and hopped off the bed, waddling over to a small box that none of them had previously noticed, sitting at the end of the bed, atop the massive chest, and flicking it open to rummage around before he yanked a small bronze jar from inside. He shook it carefully, holding it to his ear to confirm by sound that it was what he'd been searching for, then with a contented grunt trudged back over to the bed and hopped up on his stool, dropping his cane atop the mattress and unscrewing the lid with a shrill squeak and pop.

A strong smell permeated the air immediately, reminding Catherine unerringly of iodine, and she felt herself tensing as the healer approached her again, dipping his spindly fingers into the jar and drawing them out coated with a dark brown substance.

"Will that hurt her?" Nikki asked, also wary as she sniffed at the air, and took a cautious step forward, ready to leap in between the healer and Catherine should there be need.

"Of course not," snorted the elf, throwing her a disparaging look. "Why would I give her somethin' that hurts when I'm tryin' to heal her? You daft?"

Nikki twitched at the insult but otherwise didn't speak as she slowly stepped back again, exchanging a mistrustful look with Trinity as they both stood quietly to watch the proceedings.

"Your shoulder will be numb for a while," the elf was informing Catherine in his reedy voice, already slathering the brown mixture over her shoulder, which—upon making contact with her skin—crystallized and turned clear, so it looked less like mud paste and much more like ice as it coated her wounds, seeping into the punctures and sending a rush of warmth and blissful numbness straight through her shoulder so a moment after the healer had applied the medicinal salve she couldn't feel any kind of pain, though she also couldn't really feel it when she moved her shoulder at all. "There. All finished. Now, just wash that off in the mornin', put on a small bandage for coverage and you should be all set to go. Just be grateful it wasn't worse."

Catherine nodded mutely, breathing a sigh of relief as the healer hopped down from the bed and tottered away to pack his things, leaving Trinity and Nikki to converge on her, mixed expressions of concern and uncertainty on their faces.

"I'm fine," she murmured when Nikki seated herself and put a tentative hand on her uninjured shoulder. "It's just been a hell of a night…"

"Yeah, it has," agreed Nikki with a small nod and weak smile, "But…Cat, are you really okay? I mean…"

Nikki's dark eyes conveyed a thousand things that the girl couldn't hope to say aloud, and Catherine offered a small smile as she leaned into her friend, who wrapped an arm gently about her while Trinity settled herself on Catherine's other side.

"I'll be fine," Catherine sighed, closing her eyes, which suddenly seemed to weigh a ton, resting her head on Nikki's shoulder. "Nothing really bad happened outside of this…"

Nothing physical, anyway, she thought, feeling that familiar twinge of guilt as she caught herself half lying to her friends.

"I mean," she took a breath, sighing, and cracked her jade eyes open slightly to peer up at Nikki and Trinity, who were both frowning down at her, "It's…it was scary when it happened, and it's still scary to think about, but nothing really happened…I'll be okay. I don't want you guys to worry too much, okay?"

Nikki nodded slowly, looking a little uncertain still, but she at least seemed a bit more reassured by Catherine's words, and Trinity—after a moment's hesitation—also nodded.

"I'll send back in the entourage," the healer said then, breaking in on their conversation as he headed for the day, his little walking stick clacking quietly against the floor. "Don't let them keep her up much longer, she's sure to keel over in a matter of minutes after she takes her potion."

"What potion?" Trinity asked in bemusement, looking around at the healer as Catherine's heart gave a panicked jolt.

"The nightshade," the healer said, looking back at the little trio with a look of confusion equal to Trinity's on his wizened old face.

"Nightshade?" Nikki stared at him. "Why does she need nightshade?"

The healer didn't answer immediately, his gaze flickering thoughtfully to Catherine's wide, jade eyes, before he looked back to Trinity and Nikki and gave a jerk of his shoulder.

"I'll let her explain it then," he sniffed, turning his back on them. "I just would have thought the two of you would've known about it, since that blasted Cait Sith keeps comin' to me every bloody night asking for more of it…thought at first it was all for 'im, but no. Well, then, I'll leave it for the three of you to discuss, and have a good night."

Though he didn't quite sound like he wished them to have any such kind of night as he snapped his fingers, causing the bedroom door to fly open so he could step through and, with another snap of his fingers and a rather inelegant snort, let it slam shut behind him again, leaving an ominous, ringing silence in his stead. Catherine felt like she could just wither up and die at that point, and was really wishing she had enough glamour left in her to just be invisible as both Nikki and Trinity turned their heads to fix her with shocked and similarly hurt expressions.

"Cat," said Trinity in a deliberately slow, calm voice, "What else haven't you been telling us?"

If Trinity could have picked the worst way to phrase what she was thinking, it was by saying it like that, because Catherine wasn't sure how much her friend realized the truth behind those words. What else wasn't she telling them? Because it wasn't just one little thing she wasn't telling them about, it was a whole freaking list of things she wasn't telling them about, and promise or no promise to tell them later, she was starting to wish she'd just been man—or woman—enough in the first place to get it all out while she had the chance, because she'd sooner have taken her friends' cynicisms and anger then as opposed to the hurt expressions they were giving her now.

"I thought you stopped taking nightshade after we were at Spindle's," Nikki murmured when Catherine didn't immediately speak after Trinity's question. "When did you start taking it again?"

Catherine chewed hard on her lower lip, wincing as she agitated the still-there laceration on it, and casting guilty, nervous glances between the two of her friends, looking between Nikki's dark chocolate gaze to Trinity's striking blue one. Each of her friend's wore an almost identical expression of confusion, uncertainty, and hurt, and she didn't blame them for a single one of those emotions, though she wished she could have made different ones appear in their eyes.

"I…" she began, but her throat was dry and her voice cracked, forcing her to stop and take a deep swallow of air and courage before she could make a second attempt, "I never…stopped taking it…"

She wasn't looking at either of her friends now, and instead dropped her jade eyes to her lap, watching her fingers twist together, her knuckles almost white. Her copper tresses fell into her face, just barely creating a shield between her and the other two beside her, and she felt her heart give a painful throb.

"I thought I could get along without it at first," she said quietly, speaking to her knotted fingers, "And that after the week at Spindle's, just asleep, everything would be fine again, and I wouldn't need it again…but…but the day we left Spindle's I got scared that maybe I _would _need it, so I asked her just to give me a small vial in case. When we went to sleep that night, I tried just falling asleep on my own, since I felt tired from everything that had gone on that day, but the longer I laid there the more I realized I was just trying to make myself believe I didn't need help again. Demon saw me take the nightshade, and I told him how I'd gotten it and why I was taking it, and he just let it go. When we got here, I thought I'd be okay, because we were finally somewhere safe where I didn't have to worry if someone or something would attack us, and we had actual beds and everything. But the first night we were here, before I even got in bed, Demon had gone to get the nightshade. I think, secretly, he knew I wouldn't be able to sleep without it. I tried a couple of times, because I didn't want to have to keep relying on it just for a couple of hours of sleep every night, but it never worked. I just can't sleep without taking even a little bit…"

She was shaking again, and though she wanted to cry no tears would come. Apparently she'd exhausted all of her reserves, and could only sit there, head bowed, and let her body wrack with tremors. Neither Nikki nor Trinity spoke, and merely sat watching her, their expressions still identical in their shock and concern as they gazed at her, once exchanging looks with each other, and Nikki tightened her hold around Catherine's shoulders, pulling her friend a little closer.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" she asked softly, dropping her head onto Catherine's, feeling a sick twisting in her gut. "If you needed help so bad, Cat, why didn't you come to us?"

"Because I thought you'd both worry or be mad," Catherine confessed, burying her face in her friend's thick mahogany hair, "And you've already had to worry about me enough as it is. I didn't want to make you guys think anything else was wrong."

"But it is, Cat," said Trinity sharply, "It is wrong, and you didn't tell us. And this isn't the only thing you've been keeping from us, has it?"

"Trinity," Nikki murmured reproachfully, feeling Catherine tense at the harsh note of Trinity's voice, "Getting mad isn't going to help anything…"

"I'm not mad," Trinity denied, her voice still firm, though there was a quavering note just barely noticeable as she spoke, "I'm confused, and upset, but not mad. My best friend got attacked by Mab's bastard son tonight, Oberon was supposed to be protecting her but didn't, she's been spending the past two weeks using nightshade to get to sleep because she somehow can't do it on her own anymore, which already tells me something else is seriously wrong, and she won't tell me what. Now how the hell am I supposed to help out when I can't even figure out what the fucking problem is?!"

Trinity's voice rose slowly, becoming louder the longer she talked, so when she finally reached her conclusion she was almost shouting, and both Nikki and Catherine were staring at her as she sucked in a deep breath, looking back at them through tearful blue eyes.

"I'm the oldest," Trinity choked out, lifting a hand to wipe forcefully at her eyes, "I promised I'd take care of the both of you because I'm older and I should look out for you guys, but since we've gotten here I've felt like all I've managed to do is get the both of you into serious shit. Or you guys get into it on your own and then don't let me help you back out. I hate seeing either of you get hurt, but you both keep getting hurt and there's not a fucking thing I can do about it!"

She wiped the back of her hand across her tearing eyes, feeling even more like hell than she had a moment ago. She hadn't meant to cry, but she was just what she'd said; confused and upset. She'd told herself she would always take care of Catherine and Nikki, because they were her friends—her sisters—and all this time Catherine had been hiding things from both her and Nikki, and even if Trinity had known that Catherine was hiding something, she hadn't been able to stop it, or help her friend. How could she help if she didn't know what was wrong?

"I hate this," she said, her voice ragged with tears as she looked up at her two friends, "I should be able to protect you guys!"

"Tri," Catherine's voice fairly trembled as she stared at Trinity, whose sapphire eyes sparkled with tears, "Tri, don't…This wasn't your fault. None of this was your fault! _I _was the one who didn't tell you guys something was wrong."

"But I should have known," Trinity insisted angrily, more tears sliding down her face, "I should have known! And I knew you were keeping stuff from us, but Demon told us to let it go, because you'd tell us when you were ready, but all that time he knew you were in trouble and didn't even think to tell us about it?!"

"Because I asked him not to," Catherine said desperately, reaching out to grab her friend's hand, her jade eyes sparkling with remorse and guilt, "I told him not to tell you both because I'd already made you guys worry enough and you all have more important things to worry about than me."

"Like what?" demanded Trinity, half glaring at her friend, fighting back sobs, "Name one thing that's more important to us than making sure you're okay!"

"That's not the point," Catherine said, feeling even more helpless than before.

"The hell it isn't," snapped Trinity, throwing her other arm into the air in total exasperation. "You were locked up, Cat! Locked up by Mab and Rowan and kept there until you could get away! And then tonight this shit with Rowan happens and it's supposed to be okay?!"

"I didn't say that," Catherine whispered.

"No, you didn't," agreed Nikki fervently, feeling the tension rising and seeking to intervene before things got blown way out of proportion. "You didn't say that, and, Tri, you know she didn't say that. Just listen for a minute, both of you, because I feel like we're throwing this all in the wrong directions. Cat, you know we just want to help, and we're trying to let you come out about this on your own, but can you blame us for getting upset when something like this happens and then, on top of that, we find out you're in even more trouble than before and you didn't tell us about it? We're sisters, Cat, we're supposed to look out for each other, and it's scary when you don't let us look out for you like you look out for us sometimes. And, Tri"—she turned to her ivory haired friend, who was sniffling as she glanced back at Nikki—"I know how much you want to look out for us, but you've got to let us screw up sometimes. It's the only way we learn. We're big girls, too, we can take whatever shit comes at us, so long as you can still stand there and tell us it's okay even after we've gotten up to our necks in it. And maybe it won't always be 'okay', but so long as you can stand there and be there for us, we know it _will _be, eventually, somewhere down the road. We've all had our shit falls, and this is one of them. And I may not be a motivational speaker, but I'm going to say this at least: we've been friends for almost ten years now. Nothing's going to change that. No matter what crap comes our way, we can take it. Sure, it'll probably be a bitch to handle sooner or later, but whenever it turns into hell, and however bad it is, we can take it. We've made it this far, and I for one am not about to stop here."

She looked sternly at both of her friends, who looked back at her with wide eyed expressions, and after a moment she gave a weak smile, feeling her throat tightening as tears threatened to make their appearance.

"And before I start crying," she added, sniffing slightly, taking a deep breath, "I'd just like to say that I still don't quite get all of what kind of hell you're putting yourself through, Cat, but if you're not ready to say it, then don't. When you're ready to tell us, I know you will, but don't try to take the world on by yourself, okay? If you need us, just say so, and we'll be there, no questions asked. Alright?"

She looked Catherine hard in the face, her chocolate brown eyes brimming with silent tears, and Catherine's jade eyes grew over bright, though she didn't cry as she nodded.

"There, then," mumbled Nikki, lifting her free hand to wipe fervently at her eyes, "I've said my bit. So…yeah…"

She took a deep, shuddering breath, really hoping she wouldn't cry, because she really didn't want to, especially when she could hear people coming towards the door, and could very distinctly make out Puck's voice as he gave hell to whoever had been stupid enough to get on his bad side—again.

"And I'm with Nikki on this whole thing," Trinity said, also heaving a sigh as she turned to look at Catherine through teary sapphire eyes. "I guess I've babied you guys too much, so I'll try to stop doing that. But I'll be here, and I'll stay here until you cast me off somewhere, and when you're ready to tell me what's up, I'll listen, and I'll beat every lowlife responsible into the ground if I need to. But, Cat, could you at least tell us one thing?"

Catherine glanced up at her friend as she spoke, and meeting Trinity's bright, anxious gaze, seeing the way her friend's lip trembled as she fought back her tears, Catherine nodded.

"Sure," she murmured, straightening up a little, lifting her head from Nikki's shoulder, and facing Trinity.

"I just want to know," Trinity murmured, gripping Catherine's hand tightly in her own, "If you at least know _why _you need the nightshade so much…If you can tell me you at least know why you need it, and that you're not just taking it without knowing why, then I can live with not knowing anything else until you're ready to let me know about it."

Catherine gazed mutely at her blue eyed friend for a very long moment, feeling her gut turning over and over inside of her, and that painful ache in her heart that had previously dulled came back more potently than she remembered it being since what seemed a long-ago dance, and found herself clenching her fingers around Trinity's in response.

"I do," she murmured shakily.

Trinity nodded slowly, a frown coming to her face, but she didn't say anymore, and neither did Nikki, and for a few seconds they sat in total silence in the bedroom, huddled together on the edge of the bed, until a series of loud, rather obnoxious knocks came down on the door.

"If you're naked, get dressed, because I'm coming in!" Puck sang through the door, and a split second later he came barging right in as he shoved the door open with a resounding bang.

"Puck, you ass, you could have at least waited a couple seconds," Nikki snapped, turning to fix the fiery headed faery with a rather disgruntled look. "Jeez! We were having a moment!"

"Well, I want in on the moment," said Puck, sniffing indignantly as he strode right over to them, his emerald eyes flashing. "I'm tired of having to have moments with those people out there, so I'm having a moment in here."

By 'those people out there', Nikki had to assume he meant everyone who was now filing into the room like some kind of demented faery parade. Oberon headed it, of course, and behind him came Sonata, Demon, Ash, Meghan, Glitch and—Trinity felt her heart do a feeble somersault—Tertius.

"Oh, look, the circus," said Trinity lamely, managing to draw a tentative smile out of Catherine as the two of them and Nikki straightened up, composing themselves and wiping at any remaining tears as Oberon moved across the floor to stand just in front of them, though he didn't quite stand as close as Nikki imagined he would like to given the mutinous glare he was receiving from Puck as the prankster lounged against one of the posts of the four poster bed.

"The healer said your wounds had been taken care of," the Erkling said, addressing Catherine, though he kept a wary green eye on his right hand man as he spoke.

"Yes," she mumbled, nodding her head in weak agreement. "He said it should be fine by tomorrow morning."

"Good." Oberon nodded back at her, though his expression seemed strained and thoughtful as he contemplated her pale face and tired jade eyes. "There is a small matter I wish to discuss before you turn in for the night, regarding the venture you had been planning on taking starting tomorrow."

Catherine glanced up at the Summer King, uncertain just what he was referring to, until a low growl from Demon, standing in the far corner of the room, caught her attention. Looking towards the Cait Sith she saw him give Oberon a fierce look that the Erkling didn't fail to notice.

"Is something the matter, Cait Sith?" Oberon inquired lightly, arching a silvery eyebrow.

"If you are even considering telling her that she isn't permitted to leave Arcadia in search of her father tomorrow morning, I would advise you to reconsider," Demon murmured quietly, his eyes narrowing to yellow-green slits.

"I hope you are not thinking of warning me off if that is my very intention," Oberon replied, his voice low and rumbling with power as he directed a superior look at Demon, who lifted his chin in evident defiance.

"She is none to be imprisoned here because your folly permitted her to become injured, King," the Cait Sith informed him coldly. "And the healer clearly stated that she would be fit to do anything she pleased on the morrow. That aside, why don't you ask _her _what she would rather do instead of assuming she will demurely take your orders at their value and sit patiently here in your palace waiting until you've decided she's spent enough time under lock and key."

Catherine couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, though when she chanced glances at Nikki and Trinity she found her friends actually could as they glared openly at Oberon, and Trinity even released her to rise to her feet, leveling a dark glare at the Summer Monarch.

"You wouldn't dare," she said furiously as Oberon turned to her with a rather surprised look. "You wouldn't even _think _of telling Catherine to stay here after she's already spent two weeks waiting for me to get out from under your stupid punishment! She's been waiting for this since she got here, and the only reason she didn't go before is because you put me under house arrest!"

"Lady Trinity," Oberon began wearily, lifting a hand to stay her flood of angry words, but she wasn't having any of it.

"No, don't even!" she snapped at him, jabbing a finger right into his chest, much to the amazement of everyone in the room, even earning an appreciative smirk from Glitch as Oberon took a literal step backwards in alarm. "Don't even try that bull crap! I put up with your orders because you're the King, and my dad worked for you, but I've paid my end of the deal twice already by putting up with your orders to stay here _and _dancing with that bastard they call a Winter Prince, and you couldn't even hold up your end of the bargain, so what the hell makes you think I'm going to sit here and let you tell Cat she has to stay here because it suits you?!"

Oberon was gaping at her, clearly at a loss for words, and over in his corner by Tertius, Ash and Meghan Glitch was very hard put to keep from snickering aloud, and quickly turned his snort of laughter into a heavy cough. No one noticed it, except Tertius, who turned to his companion and arched a dark eyebrow inquisitively, but Glitch merely grinned and shrugged lamely. Tertius rolled his silver eyes and heaved a silent sigh before turning his attention back to where a very thoroughly pissed off Trinity was making her stand.

"So, you really want to try to tell us we can't leave tomorrow?" Trinity asked the Erkling in a deadly voice, as though daring him to really go ahead and say the words. "Because I can almost guarantee a mass mutiny if you do."

"Here, here," said Puck with a dark smile.

Oberon, realizing quickly that he was being overruled, heaved a sigh of defeat and shook his head, sending the antlered shadows on the ground dancing.

"Very well," he murmured, his voice low and just barley hinting at annoyed. "You will be permitted to leave tomorrow as soon as you are prepared."

"Damn right we will," growled Trinity, resuming her seat on the bed and tossing her ivory head.

"Leaving?" Meghan looked bemused as she looked around the room at the crowd there. "You have an idea of where to find someone who might know about Catherine's father?"

"A distant idea, but yes," said Demon from his corner, turning a yellow-green gaze on the Iron Queen, "We are seeking counsel with Lord Wrath, the King of Cats."

"Wrath?" Meghan looked even more confused than before, though at a rather violent shudder from Ash she seemed to guess there was something not quite safe about the idea. "That sounds…dangerous…"

"It is," said Demon with a lazy shrug. "Lord Wrath does not particularly care of visitors, not to mention he has made his residence far away in the Briars."

"In short, it's a suicide mission," said Ash with a frown, and Meghan looked up in alarm at her husband and Prince as he fixed his gleaming silver eyes on Demon. "And there's no guarantee you'll find Wrath at all, even if you get to the Briars in one piece."

"Thank you, princeling, for those kind words of support," said Puck sarcastically, rolling his emerald eyes. "Truly, your faith in us is absolutely humbling."

"He is only speaking the truth, Goodfellow," Demon told Puck, "The trek to Wrath's is perilous at best."

"Then why are we looking for him?" asked Puck in a weary voice, looking over at the Cait Sith with a very drawn expression. "I thought the goal was to find Cat's dad, not get her killed."

"She won't get killed," said Demon with an irritated sigh, turning his yellow-green eyes to the heavens in clear exasperation.

"And why do you say that?" inquired Puck, eyebrows shooting up.

"Because she is with me," said Demon simply, as if that settled the whole account.

"Oh, pssh," snorted Puck, looking totally unconvinced. "Because that makes me feel soooo much safer."

"It isn't you I've sworn to protect," Demon told him coolly, looking rather amused as he cast a look in the Summer jester's direction. "You'll be on your own to protect Lady Nicolette and Lady Trinity."

"Oh, well thanks so much," Puck said with a grimace.

"You don't think you're up to the task, Goodfellow?" Ash inquired with a wry smirk. "Here I thought you were the one who kept telling us not to underestimate your skills."

"You know what, you people are awfully good at picking times to twist my words around to suit your fancy," snapped Puck, casting a dark look at his rival. "Not that you listen to me when I say them in the first place, no, no, of course not. You just decide you'll file them away for later just to screw me over. Fuck you all."

"Something tells me he's still pissed off," Nikki said in a not so subtle murmur, giving Puck a scrutinizing look out of the corner of her eyes.

"Nah, ya think?" asked Puck in mock disbelief as he swung around to look at her, one eyebrow cocked, a sardonic smile curving his mouth. "I'm just all roses and daisies about this shit, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Just a lovely bouquet of screw-you-all," said Nikki with a smirk, to which Puck gave a darkly amused snort.

"Fuck it," he said bluntly.

"You really need to get a grip on your language, Goodfellow," sighed Demon, looking tiredly at the Summer fey, who gave the Cait Sith a look that said he would have just _loved _to tell the cat what _he _really needed to do, but with the observing audience he seemed to think better of it and merely settled for flipping Demon double birdies. "Classy…"

"Oh, shut it," grumbled Puck while Nikki tried not to smile.

"If you two are done playing happily married couple," sighed Ash, looking wearily between the bickering Cait Sith and Summer fey, "I feel we should get on to the point. Who all is going with you to find Wrath?"

"Just us," said Puck, pointing at Demon, himself, Nikki, Trinity and Catherine. "Our merry little troupe."

"That's it?" Ash said, looking drawn.

"Uh, yeah, unless you'd like to send a whole battalion with us," Puck replied, clicking his tongue and arching an eyebrow at the Iron Prince.

"You might just need it, if you're going to the Briars," Ash told him with a roll of his silvery eyes.

"I've been there before with less people than this and made it back alive," Puck reminded him, "Meghan could tell you all about it. We got chased by a dragon and all kinds of fun shit, right, princess?"

Meghan rolled her turquoise eyes as Ash fixed her with a startled look, and gave Puck a rather annoyed glare before turning to her Prince.

"It's a long story," she told him with a small smile.

"And I've got time to hear all about it," Ash told her sternly, "Why the hell were you in the Briars?"

"Trying to save your sorry ass, what else?" Puck snorted, rolling his eyes and smirking. "Remember when the Scepter of Seasons got stolen by Virus and her lackies, yeah, that was kind of then, except you were an evil bastard then."

"That wasn't his fault, Puck, don't bring it up," Meghan said warningly to the Summer fey, who grimaced but muttered an apology to Ash before turning back to Nikki, Trinity and Catherine, all of whom were looking exceptionally bewildered.

"What happened now?" Nikki asked hesitantly, looking between Puck and Ash.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Puck said with a little grin, to which she glared.

"Focus would be much appreciated right now," Demon said idly. "We have to make plans for once we get to the Briars. As Prince Ash has so graciously stated, it is not a place for the faint of heart, and most definitely not for the weak."

"And yet he's taking us there anyway," muttered Trinity, turning to look at the Cait Sith, who either did not hear her or chose to ignore her. Either way, he continued speaking, this time to Oberon.

"I do not intend to take any more people with us than the ones we have already planned to bring, which would consist of myself, Goodfellow, Lady Trinity, Lady Nicolette and Catherine. It is already a conspicuously large group."

"I agree," murmured Oberon in his low voice, nodding, "But I would at least prefer to send a couple of knights along with you for protection."

"They would only slow us down," Demon replied, "Though I appreciate your concern for Lady Trinity and Lady Nicolette. However, they are both very adept at handling themselves at this point, as I have seen Lady Trinity practicing her swordsmanship during the times you do not require her in the court, and I know Goodfellow has been making it his job to help Lady Nicolette better her control over her glamour."

Puck shot Nikki a very proud look, though she herself turned a light pink and ducked her head as Oberon's green gaze swept across her.

"And what about Lady Catherine?" Oberon inquired, his tone light, but clearly suggestive as he glanced down at Catherine's bowed head.

"She has enough use over her glamour to be safe," Demon said quietly, "And I will be there to protect her should something go wrong."

"I am still concerned," Oberon admitted, looking directly at the Cait Sith now, "Since it would seem that she either failed to use her glamour during her encounters both with the satyrs and with Prince Rowan, or was not adept enough at using it."

Catherine stiffened at his words, feeling a burst of indignation strike low and mean in her gut so she lifted her jade eyes to glare at Oberon.

"I used it," she said in a voice that shook from a mixture of fear and anger as the Erkling turned a surprised look on her. "Twice…I know it's not nearly enough to help me out if I was in serious trouble, but I'm not incompetent. I just need a little more training, and what better training than experience?"

She couldn't see Demon from here she sat, though she thought she heard a small chuckle come from his secluded corner of the room as she continued to stare into Oberon's green eyes, and the Erkling looked back at her, his expression thoughtful as he cocked his head to peer at her.

"I suppose you are correct to say that, daughter of Cait Sith," he murmured, inclining his head after a long moment of contemplative silence. "Very well. Since it is evident I will not be able to dissuade any of you from venturing out tomorrow, I suppose my only other course of action is to be sure there are enough rations for you to take along with you for the journey, since once you reach the Briars any sustenance you come across would be more likely to kill you than keep you from starvation or thirst. I will alert the cook to set out food tonight for you to take tomorrow when you depart."

"That would be much appreciated," Demon said softly, bowing his head to Oberon. "Thank you, your majesty. I cannot say at what time we'll leave in the morning, though I would assume before many others in the castle have risen, possibly including yourself."

Oberon nodded, then, with a last look around the room at those gathered there, he seemed to sigh, the sound like the whispering of the wind in the forest, then turned on his heel to depart without another word or backwards glance.

"You're excused," muttered Puck sullenly under his breath, glaring after the Summer King, long after the Monarch had disappeared from sight.

"Puck," sighed Nikki exasperatedly, giving the Summer jester a fierce look. "Let it go."

"Feh," he snorted, looking away, disgruntled.

Nikki rolled her eyes, clearly giving up for the moment, and turning to look at Demon as the Cait Sith sauntered slowly past the bedroom door, kicking it shut behind Oberon before turning to face the rest of the room's occupants with a contemplative expression.

"You're really going to look for Wrath?" Ash asked softly from his position beside Meghan, his silver eyes narrowing.

"Yes," said Demon, glancing over in the Prince's direction and frowning. "I do not expect you to condone the excursion, Prince. We are going regardless."

"I expect you would," sighed Ash, closing his eyes, his brows furrowing into a line of concentration, "Which is why I'm glad I already made this decision."

"You mean you're glad I made you make this decision already," Meghan muttered under her breath with a pointed look at the prince, whose lips quirked in a wry smile.

"Yes, dear," he sighed, lifting his head and fixing his Queen with a heated look that everyone else pretended not to see.

"What decision?" asked Trinity, looking at Meghan with a puzzled expression.

The Iron Queen turned to her and offered a cheeky grin.

"I made Ash promise to help if you guys ended up doing something crazy and suicidal," she explained with a wink. "I tried to make it so he'd go with you, and me, too, but he didn't think that'd go over too well since we already spent time away from the Iron Kingdom when we tried to help you find Catherine, so instead he's sending substitutes in our place."

"You're sending subordinates in your stead to join us?" asked Demon, sounding chagrinned as he faced Ash, who shrugged. "I thought I just told Oberon to forget offering help, since it would only slow us down."

"Hey, we're not as slow as those Summer knights that get so uppity," said Glitch with a scowl.

"You guys are coming?" asked Nikki in stunned disbelief, looking between Glitch and Tertius. "Seriously?!"

"Yes, seriously," said Glitch with a little huff of annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Demon. "And, whether you like it or not, you're going to put up with us. So, just suck it up and say thanks that we're doing it all."

"It's too dangerous," Trinity said at once, leaping to her feet, her sapphire eyes on Tertius.

"Oh, please," Glitch sighed in annoyance, turning to Tertius, "Sir, would you kindly explain to the lady that you are a big boy and can handle yourself?"

"You're assuming she would listen," Tertius told him, arching a jet black brow.

"Make her listen!"

Tertius actually snorted in amusement, much to Glitch's indignation.

"You're funny," Tertius informed his comrade with a smirk, and Glitch swore under his breath.

But while they had been bickering about that, Catherine had realized something, having caught Glitch's reference to Summer knights.

"Where's Sonata?" she asked then, turning to look at Demon with a frown, realizing the sidhe had not returned with the rest of the troupe.

"Speaking with Queen Titania, poor bastard," sighed Puck before Demon could respond. "I think somewhere along the way she finally realized that he'd admitted he is loyal to you or some mess like that and she's giving him a shit storm unlike any I have ever seen."

"What?" Catherine stared at Puck in horror, and the Summer faery shrugged lamely.

"She doesn't like knowing he's got another woman in his heart," he explained, giving her a sympathetic frown. "Titania wanted to come back here with us, just to call you out for making a mess of Elysium, and Sonata got right in her way and told her to back down. Oberon thought it was hysterical, though you'd never have guessed it, but Titania, of course, didn't quite take too kindly to being told off by a guy she tried to seduce into being her consort."

"And you left him on his own?" Nikki asked, appalled.

"We weren't really given the choice, beautiful," Puck told her, looking apologetic. "Oberon called the rest of us back here to be here when you all decided to bring up whatever needed to be brought up, not to mention Titania looked about ready to give us all major hell when Demon and I tried to get in between her and Sonata. He's a knight, Nik, he'll be fine. Not to mention that Titania wouldn't ever get away with doing something unsavory to him since he's kind of one of Oberon's favorite knights."

"There are those times when it pays to be in the favor of the King, though they are not always good times," sighed a voice then, following the sound of the bedroom creaking open, and Catherine swung her head around to see Sonata coming in through the door, looking weary, but otherwise well and physically intact as he pushed a hand through his sleek white hair.

"Oh, he lives!" exclaimed Puck, raising his arms in mock celebration as Sonata carefully closed the door behind him. "Welcome back, sir, I thought perhaps you'd been turned into a horny toad or something ugly like that."

"No such luck, I'm afraid," said Sonata with a wry smile thrown in Puck's direction. "Though I am sure you would have taken great entertainment if I had."

"I actually would've felt damn sorry for you," Puck admitted with a grin. "But it's good to see you escaped with all pieces of yourself intact. At least I think all of your pieces, there are some I can't quite see from here."

"Puck," groaned Nikki as the Summer jester gave Sonata's lower region a very pointed look, "For two seconds, you can't stop being crass?"

"Nope," said Puck, popping the word and waggling his eyebrows at her as he smirked. "Besides, you know you were thinking exactly the same thing."

"I wasn't until you said it, actually," Nikki muttered, shaking her head despairingly as Sonata slowly came over to stand in front of her, Trinity and Catherine.

"I assume you heard the conversation well enough on your way in, knight," Demon said to Sonata, who lowered himself to kneel in front of Catherine, who met his startlingly blue gaze uncertainly.

"I heard enough," the sidhe conceded with a small sigh as he tilted his head to smile gently up at Catherine. "And while I wish I could offer a better solution to the issue of finding your father, I'm afraid I don't have one."

Catherine shrugged lamely and smiled back at him. "It's the thought that counts," she told him jokingly, though her voice caught a little.

"If only it really was," he chuckled softly, gently slipping his hand under hers and curling his long fingers around it. The gentle warmth of his hand around hers was reassuring, and she gave him a grateful look. He blinked up at her. "How is your back?"

"Better," she murmured, "The healer said I should be fine by tomorrow morning."

"That is good," Sonata murmured, "And I assume you'll be leaving first thing."

"We're hoping to," she agreed with a short nod. "I guess it just depends on when I get up in the morning…"

"That's right," said Nikki with a gasp, just realizing something, "The nightshade!"

Demon tensed in the corner, his eyes flashing to the dark haired female as she rounded on him with narrowed eyes.

"The what-what?" asked Puck, looking alarmed. "What nightshade?"

"You didn't tell us," Nikki accused Demon, ignoring Puck's question. "You knew we'd want to know and you didn't tell us!"

"Because I told him not to," Catherine moaned softly, turning to her friend with a pained expression. "Nikki, we just talked about this before he came back in the room!"

"I don't care," Nikki said, looking affronted, though not quite furious as she glared at Demon, who had the decency to look slightly ashamed, though not quite as much as Nikki wished he would. "He didn't tell us. That's the end of it."

"Tell you about what?" demanded Puck, severely confused now as he looked between Nikki's irate expression to Demon's subdued one.

"Cat's been taking nightshade every night since we left Spindle's," Trinity explained, drawing a gasp of shock from Meghan and a startled look from Sonata. "She can't sleep without it."

"You are overreacting," Demon murmured. "I have made sure the doses do not become overwhelming, though I'm finding that more and more her Cait Sith blood is building up immunity to it."

"Which means what exactly?" Trinity asked, blinking at the Cait Sith, unnerved by the concern in his voice.

"That the dosages will slowly need to be increased," Ash said in a low voice, looking almost angry as he looked at Demon. "And nightshade can become highly addictive, like human drugs such as cocaine and heroin."

"Which is the other reason I didn't want to tell you guys," Catherine mumbled to Nikki and Trinity. "Because I thought you might think I was just using insomnia as an excuse for something else entirely."

"If that were the case," Demon said in a terse voice before anyone could speak, "I wouldn't have permitted you to keep getting access to it. But as things stand, your use of the nightshade is entirely medicinal. Without it, you would be in the same state you were two weeks ago, and that is something we must avoid at all costs if you are to travel to the Briars."

"It just makes it all the worse to send her there in the first place," Sonata said, his voice as hard and angry as his electric blue eyes as he looked at Demon.

"She will not be alone," murmured Demon quietly, his gaze flashing at the Summer knight.

"Regardless," said Sonata, "There has to be another method you can use to fix this problem."

"No, there isn't…"

It was Catherine who spoke this time, drawing all eyes in the room onto her as she looked down at Sonata with a mournful expression.

"I wish there was," she told him when he looked back at her. "But there isn't. I know what the problem is, and no medicine can fix it. Sleep is only a side effect of the real problem, and I wish I could fix it immediately, but I can't. I will eventually…just not now…"

"And what is the real problem?" asked Sonata in a low voice, narrowing his vivid blue eyes at her.

She blinked slowly down at him, regret in her jade eyes, and shook her head.

"Catherine," he said, his voice reproachful, but she lifted a hand to cover his mouth stopping him.

"I can't talk about it right now, okay?" she said, giving him a pleading look. "Just trust me this once."

He looked for all the world like that was really the last thing he wanted to do, but she knew he would, because she wasn't giving him another option, and after a few long, tense moments of staring into each other's eyes he finally seemed to give up. She could see it in the way his eyes dulled and he heaved a tremendous sigh, leaning his head forward so his forehead rested on her knees.

"Yes, my Lady," he murmured, "But I will inform you right now that I am not at all content with this."

"You don't have to be," she told him with a regretful smile, dropping her other hand gently onto his head and running her fingers through his glistening white hair. "But I'm sorry you're not…"

He gave a small 'hmm' and sighed again.

"Man, she's got you wrapped around her little finger," said Puck, sounding highly amused as he took in the scene before him.

"If you know what's good for you, Goodfellow, you'll stop talking," Sonata warned him without lifting his head.

Puck laughed. "And I'm supposed to take that threat seriously?" he asked, grinning hugely. "Sir, you are on your knees in front of your fair Lady giving in to her despite the fact she could be trippin' on nightshade!"

"Really, Puck?" Nikki asked in disbelief, turning to ogle him. "Really? Tripping on nightshade?"

"Hey, it could happen," he said defensively, flashing a devious smirk.

"Because you've totally done it before," she said jokingly, to which he waggled his eyebrows and winked. "Oh, my God, you _have_!"

He laughed again, striding forward to throw an arm around her shoulders—practically unseating her as he pulled her upright—and hugged her almost to the point that her back popped.

"You're so cute," he told her, kissing her forehead, much to her embarrassment and Ash's amusement.

"Let go of me right now," she commanded, pushing at his chest, "You are making a scene!"

"Oh, pah!" he said, rolling his emerald eyes skyward as he actually _did _lift her from the bed, then seated himself and pulled her right into his lap, arms tight around her waist to keep her from escaping. "Beautiful, you can't say those kinds of things around me, or you might get more than you bargained for. This isn't me making a scene, this isn't me making _half _a scene or an eighteenth of a scene!"

"Then what is it?" asked Trinity with a wry smirk.

"This is me," Puck began grandly.

"Being a dork," Nikki finished bluntly, glaring up at him throw narrowed brown eyes.

"You wound me, ma'am," he told her, looking down into her fiery eyes and feigning a look of hurt.

"Man up," she told him, to which he smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Lady," he said in a voice that suggested he was up to no good, "Keep talking and see if I don't turn you over my knee and spank you."

"See if I don't have Ash castrate you for trying to do that," she snapped at him, her face flushing scarlet with color.

"I am noticing that most of your idle attempts at threats seem to include some other dashing figure coming to your rescue," Puck observed, eyeing her thoughtfully, "Not you whooping me to within an inch of my life, but Ash or Glitchy doing this that and the other. Why is that?"

"Because you don't take me seriously when I threaten you with beating you," she told him curtly.

"I don't take you seriously when you threaten me with them, either," he replied with a smirk, "So sorry to disappoint you."

"If we're not going to focus on plans for tomorrow," Demon said resignedly, moving silently from his corner to stand at the end of the bed, "I suggest we all hurry up and get to sleep, since tomorrow is bound to be a long and rather unforgiving venture and I would rather not have to put up with hearing idle complaints about not having had enough rest from any of those accompanying me."

"Just a bleeding heart, you are," Puck said with a sharp glance at the Cait Sith, who merely cocked a silvery eyebrow at the Summer fey, uncaring. "Fine, fine, I'm going. Since you're apparently going to be a slave driver come tomorrow morning, I don't want to end up the one you take all your vengeance out on."

"Then keep a tight lip and we won't have any problems," said Demon in a menacing purr, causing Puck to cast him a weary eyed look.

"Just walk away," Nikki told Puck when it looked like the jester might just make a snarky retort. "It's time for bed and I know Cat definitely needs sleep after what happened tonight. The healer even told us to make sure you didn't keep her up much longer, and I am acting on my instructions and ordering everyone out of here. Except Demon, because he sleeps here, too."

"Aye, aye, captain," said Puck, saluting her as she slipped off his lap and he rose to his feet.

"Which reminds me," Trinity said, also clambering to her feet after giving Catherine a brief hug, "Demon, about the nightshade…"

"I have already made arrangements with the healer that he will have a stock ready for us when we depart in the morning," the Cait Sith informed her. "I am hoping it is unnecessary, but we will have at least two weeks worth of nightshade, assuming the venture takes that long."

"And how long would you imagine it taking at the last?" Nikki asked, a little uncertain as she turned to look at Demon, who shrugged carelessly.

"If we make good time and the Briars don't present too many obstacles, we should manage to reach Lord Wrath's place of residence in at least five days," he said, "But that would be assuming the Fates are working in our favor, and they never tend to do so. At the very most, though, the trip should not take more than a full week, barring any unforeseen and dire circumstances."

"So, so long as no one gets mortally wounded or dies, we'll be back within the week," said Puck in a mock cheerful voice, "No problem."

"You keep talking like that, and I wouldn't be surprised if Demon's the one that kills you before we get back," Nikki informed him with a sly look as she bent to hug Catherine.

"Pah," said Puck, looking disbelieving. "Me? Die? That's got to be one of the worst jokes I've ever heard."

"You're only immortal so long as no one finds a sharp enough sword, Goodfellow," Ash said to his rival as he slipped an arm around Meghan's waist and guided her to the bedroom door.

"Hell, even if they _did _find a sharp enough sword, no one said they could use it properly," Puck replied, grinning. "They have to catch me first."

"Then hope to God Nikki isn't the one who decides to off you," Trinity advised him, "Because you wouldn't see it coming until you were dead on the ground."

"Ah, but Nikki loves me much too much to ever consider such personal violence against me," Puck said with a smile as he wrapped Nikki up in another back breaking hug and nuzzled the top of her head so she squeaked in alarm and annoyance.

"You keep telling yourself that," Trinity said with a rather malicious snicker as she sidled away towards the door, her eyes flickering over to a certain knight standing in the doorway, watching her attentively with glittering silver eyes. "If you'll all excuse me, I need to get some stuff done."

"Uh-huh," said Puck, catching sight of Trinity's intended target as the girl sashayed right out of the room. "Don't be too rough with him! Those Iron Knights are a onetime only usage!"

"God, you're vulgar," muttered Nikki, sounding slightly disgusted as she tilted her head back to stare at him. "More so than usual. What's up with you?"

"I am tired and still quite irate and I need a hug," he sighed, pouting at her. "Will you give me a hug?"

"I thought I already did," she said with a small laugh.

"No, no, no, I hugged you, you need to hug me. That requires putting your arms around my person and squeezing tenderly."

"Oh, there's instructions for it now," Nikki snorted in amusement, rolling her dark eyes as she moved out of the room with Puck's arm still draped around her shoulders.

"There always have been, you just neglected to learn them," Puck informed her, grinning.

Meghan rolled her eyes at the pair of faeries, amused, then, with a glance at Ash, allowed her Prince to lead her from the room as well, leaving Catherine and Demon and Sonata alone in the room.

"At last," muttered Demon, sounding wearily relieved as he strode to the door and pushed it firmly shut behind the departing fey.

"They were just trying to help," Catherine murmured vaguely, frowning at him as he moved back over to the bed, dropping heavily onto the end of it.

"I know," he murmured, giving her a somber look from under his silvery bangs, "They were worried about you, but I can only take so much of Goodfellow on any given night, especially one as stressful and disastrous as this one. Oberon is lucky Nicolette has a leash on Puck, and that you have one—so to speak—on me. His night would have been exceedingly unpleasant otherwise."

"It wasn't his fault," Catherine said, feeling as though that had somehow managed to become her new mantra over the course of the past few hours.

"I do not care," Demon told her curtly, looking rather annoyed at her weak defense of the King. "He was charged with protecting you and failed. That is enough to warrant a poor mark in my book."

"I am just as guilty as Oberon, if that is how you are judging things, Cait Sith," sighed Sonata, finally lifting his snowy head from Catherine's lap, his blue eyes tired as he focused them on Demon. "I was also charged with protecting Lady Catherine and did not manage to do so."

Demon glanced over at the Summer Knight, seeming to contemplate an appropriate answer, but only coming up with a small 'hmm' of assent before he turned away from the two others in the room and reaching over to the nightstand by the edge of the massive bed. Catherine knew what he was after before he even pulled the drawer open, and sighed regretfully as she realized the night was about to end.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to Sonata as Demon rummaged around behind her

"Whatever for, my Lady?" he asked, tilting his head back to look up in surprise at her.

"You never got your dance," she murmured, looking down into her lap, where his hand still retained possession of hers. "I promised you a dance, but you never got it."

"That is hardly something to be sorry for, my Lady," he said gently, brushing his thumb over her palm. "Many unforeseen things happened tonight, not a one of them your fault and I do not blame you for not being able to dance with me. Besides, I doubt this is the last time I will have the chance to collect on that particular vow."

Catherine looked up at him from under her lashes, and found him smiling serenely at her, not in the least bit disappointed or upset with her for not carrying out on her promise to him, and felt a little flicker of reassurance in her heart as he bent his head to brush a soft kiss across her knuckles.

"Your guardian wishes for you to sleep now," he murmured as he pushed himself to his feet, allowing her hand to slide from his grasp, "And I wish it, too. You have suffered too much tonight to go without rest, especially considering what your plans for tomorrow are."

She nodded mutely, frowning as he drew away from her, heading towards the door.

"I'm sorry you can't come with us," she called to him as he was pulling the door open, and he paused, one foot extended through the archway, to look back at her.

"The fault is mine for not having anticipated that you might need me," he told her, a warm smile appearing on his handsome face, his electric blue eyes glowing. "I wish I could offer you my assistance looking for your father, but I'm afraid I would not be of much help. I have not traveled far outside of Arcadia in many centuries, and I fear I would be the hindrance your guardian worries about. However, if there is anything I can imagine doing to aid you, I will send it your way as soon as I can manage it."

"Don't worry about it," she insisted, feeling a slight flush creep into her cheeks as he stared intently at her.

"I am afraid I cannot help it," he said, amusement in his eyes. "I swore my oath of loyalty to you. I worry about everything you do. It is part of my nature. I hope you can someday accept it."

She didn't have anything to say in response to his words, so merely blinked back at him until he swept a low bow to her.

"I will pray for your safe return," he said as he straightened, "And hope you find news of your father. Until we meet again, my Lady. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she mumbled, and watched with a sad expression as Sonata disappeared into the dim hall beyond the room, pulling the door shut behind him with a soft, final thud.

She stared at the closed door for a long time, not aware of anything else really, and finally sighed and dropped her head, staring blankly down at her empty hands. She felt so tired…so emotionally drained…and now she felt rather hollow, being left alone… Until a warm hand at her back reminded her she was not quite so alone as she'd thought.

"You need to rest," Demon murmured softly in her ear as she turned her head towards him, and his hand appeared, holding a small vial of midnight blue potion before her eyes.

She stared unseeingly at the concoction for a moment, lost in innumerable thoughts, then reluctantly took the crystal vial from Demon, though she didn't immediately tip it back into her mouth, and instead sat with it, watching the faint traces of silver and black swirl endlessly around the fringe of the potion.

"They could have reacted much worse than how they did," Demon said.

His words startled her, and she lifted her head, blinking her large jade eyes at him as he gazed back through half closed yellow-green eyes, his head inclined to one side.

"Trinity and Nicolette," he murmured when she just stared at him. "You were worried about how they would react to you taking the nightshade…it's why you didn't tell them at first. Did they act as you had feared?"

Had they, she wondered, lowering her gaze again, thinking back to minutes earlier when she'd been sitting on the bed with Nikki and Trinity around her. No, she realized, they hadn't acted at all like she'd feared. Well, they'd been upset, and she had somewhat anticipated that, but they had understood. She should have known they would in the end, but her mind had been full of the images of them yelling and screaming at her, demanding to know why she was keeping such secrets from them. Trinity had done a semblance of that, but more from her guilt at not being able to protect either Catherine or Nikki, not at all from any kind of anger directed at Catherine keeping secrets about what was going on. They had understood…

"No," she murmured to Demon, shaking her head slowly, her copper tresses dancing in the firelight, "They didn't…"

"Do you think they will act the way you fear when you tell them what else is wrong?" Demon inquired softly, leaning his head down so his forehead brushed against her uninjured left shoulder, his eyes dropping shut as he nuzzled her arm. "You know you cannot keep it from them forever, nor I do imagine you would want to. But your fear is making you hesitate to tell them…"

"They already worry about me so much," she said, feeling the pain in her chest intensifying as she thought of it. Of how much her friends cared about her, and how poorly she was repaying their trust with secrets. "I don't feel like I have the right to tell them things that would just make them worry even more."

"If that is your argument, then it is just as unfair to keep them in the dark without the slightest inclination as to what is harming you," her guardian rumbled quietly, almost purring as he propped his chin up on her shoulder. "They want to help you, Catherine…it's why they have stood by you all of these years."

"I'm just so scared," she whispered, closing her eyes and leaning back into him, glad that he was warm when she suddenly felt cold. "I don't know what they'll think or say…"

"They would never turn you away," Demon murmured, coiling one arm loosely around her waist as she leaned against him. "They care for you too much."

How did he seem to know everything, she wondered? It just seemed inherent in his nature, that he always knew either what to say or do, or just knew in general. She wondered if it was a trait of the Cait Sith, and, if it was, would she ever inherit it?

"You're thinking too hard again," he sighed against her cheek, his breath warm on her skin. "You need to sleep. Drink the potion, Catherine."

"You're bossy," she mumbled, even as she clenched the nightshade vial more firmly in her hand and began to lift it to her lips.

Demon's mouth curved in a smile as he nuzzled her shoulder. "Only with you," he murmured, "Otherwise, how would I take care of you if I let you get away with everything?"

Catherine didn't answer, already tipping back the nightshade into her mouth, feeling the immediate lethargy penetrate her every fiber, more rapidly and potent than she had remembered it doing before, and wondered vaguely if it was due in part to the traumas of the night that had led her body to being so much more susceptible to the potion. Whatever the reason, by the time her head hit the pillows a moment later as Demon gently lowered her to the mattress, she was already fast asleep, leaving the Cait Sith to tuck in the blankets around her and toss the vial into the fire, watching the crystal turn to a shimmering gel among the ruby flames. When he returned to the bed, lowering himself tiredly onto the empty space beside his ward, his yellow-green eyes were already at half mast, and in the few minutes it took him to get settled, he also dropped off to sleep, his forehead resting against Catherine's, and a final sigh escaping his lips before he succumbed to the warm darkness of slumber.


	24. Chapter 24

Nikki wasn't sure what had possessed her really to do what she had after leaving Catherine's room. She had taken a few guesses, the top contenders being that she really did not want to spend the night alone in her room after everything that had happened that night, and the other that she really just couldn't resist the positively pathetic look on Puck's face as he had asked her to stay in his room for the night because he was afraid of the scary bogey under his bed. She was leaning more towards the former as opposed to the latter, but she wasn't about to tell Puck she didn't quite buy into his intricate tale of a bogey lurking under his bed. His puppy face was just too adorable to ruin. Though, of course, she should have realized that, by default, he couldn't even tell a little fib to be cute, and no sooner had she gotten into his room, ready to keel over, and marched over to his bed, then a hand had shot from under the bed and seized her by the ankle, scaring the living daylights out of her. She still wasn't sure what had been louder, her shriek as she leapt a clear three feet straight into the air and onto the bed or Puck's raucous laughter as he leaned in the doorway clutching his gut.

Either way, she thought they'd been damn lucky that no one had come by to see who was killing who, though she guessed if enough people knew where Puck's room was they'd just assume someone was finally doing him in and turn a deaf ear on the whole affair. Puck hadn't quite agreed with that statement, and had gone on to suggest that perhaps they knew it was his room and that if he was torturing someone they needed to steer clear unless they wanted to suffer a similar fate. They had agreed to disagree, and Puck had sauntered off to take a bath, disappointed when Nikki told him point blank she wasn't joining him. She was lucky she'd still been scared witless of the bogey, because otherwise he would have puppy-dog eyed her right into the bathtub with him.

"So you'll share my bed," Puck had been saying as he leaned casually in the doorway to the bathroom, having already started to run the fountain and waiting for the tub to fill, "But you won't even consider taking a bath with me? You know, it's unsanitary to go to bed without cleaning up for the night, first."

"Because you care about hygiene," she said caustically, glaring at him from over the top of the covers, which she had pulled up to her chin.

"I do so," he sniffed, turning his nose up. "I am the very epitome of cleanliness."

"Says the faery who rolls in the mud for fun," Nikki snorted in amusement.

"I do not roll in the mud," Puck said indignantly, "I merely enjoy a good romp when it presents itself. There is a difference."

"It's mud and you're rolling in it," she said bluntly, smirking, "There's no difference."

"Well, then," said Puck in mock outrage, turning his back to her, his shoulders rigid, though the whole effect of him pretending to be insulted was kind of ruined when he poked his head back out of the bath two seconds later to ask, "You sure you won't even dangle your feet in like you did at the lake? I promise I'll behave!"

"Take your bath, Robin," she sighed, rolling her eyes and giving him an exasperated smile, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here when you get back. Just put some clothes on before you come climbing into bed or you can spend the night with the bogey."

Puck grimaced at the idea of obviously being naked on the floor with a bogey.

"Alright, beautiful," he sighed, shaking his head and feigning a look of total disappointment, "But it won't be the same bathing without you."

"You've done it every night since we got here," she told him coolly, smirking, "I don't think one more night will be the death of you, and just remember that at least this time I'm sharing the bed with you. Let that be your motivation."

"Oh, believe me, it is," he told her with a devilish smile.

"You're such a pervert," she sighed, glaring half heartedly at him, "Go take your shower, you fiend, before I change my mind."

"Going," he sang lightly, disappearing into the bathroom.

Nikki waited for a moment, noticing he left the door wide open, giving her a clear view as he began to yank his tunic over his head, and only when he'd tossed it aside and dropped his hands to the waistband of his slacks did she realize he was purposely giving her a peep show.

"Robin!" she snapped, and he paused, looking around with an expression of total innocence. "Close the door!"

"But, Nikki," he began in a whimpering voice.

"The bogey is getting kind of lonely down there," she said in a threatening voice, and he cringed.

"Alright," he sighed, putting his hands up in surrender, though his emerald eyes still gleamed rather deviously as he nudged the door shut with his foot. "But you don't know what you're missing!"

"I think I've got a clue," she snorted to herself, rolling onto her side, facing away from the door.

"I heard that!" he snapped through the door.

She snickered in amusement, tucking the blankets under her chin and letting her tired eyes drift shut as she listened to the distant sounds of water splashing in the bathroom, and the occasional skittering of the bogey beneath her, though she found the sounds weren't quite as frightening as when he decided to reach out and grab her ankle. Lying there in the darkness, she contemplated the night's events, and felt a small frown come onto her face, her eyes opening a crack in the pitch darkness, as she thought of Catherine. What had happened tonight shouldn't have happened at all…and she'd hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't, considering that for what it was worth Oberon _had _given his oath that he would act as Catherine's escort and guard for the night, but that didn't really seem to mean much now. She didn't really blame Oberon entirely for what had happened, considering he hadn't been aware, but she was still angry that he hadn't made it his business to know.

When she'd seen Catherine leave the room, she had been a little uncomfortable at first, especially since it had followed an encounter with Sage that had left her friend in tears, but Puck had convinced her to stay in the hall.

"Remember what she said," he had murmured to her when she'd been on the verge of leaving her seat, "She'll tell you when she's ready. Right now, she just needs some time alone."

She had reluctantly sat back down after that and waited for Catherine to return. Of course, when she'd seen Rowan leave the hall as well, heading in the same direction as Catherine, she had not had any good feelings about it at all, and Puck had agreed it might be wise to send some reinforcements. He'd recruited Sonata, who had seemed a little upset about something, but had immediately agreed to go check on Catherine when Puck had asked him to. Nikki had felt much better thinking the knight would be there if Catherine needed help, but after seeing what had happened she realized she should have guessed that with Rowan having a head start to get to Catherine that sending Sonata was basically just a follow up measure instead of a countermeasure. The damage had already been done when he'd gotten there…

Of course, she hadn't known that until he'd come _back _and then had to hear it from Puck, who'd caught the word from Oberon, and then she had to tell Trinity, and it had really just turned into a very fucked up version of 'Telephone'. At that point, Puck had been very hard put to keep her in her seat, considering she had just had to hear that her best friend had been attacked by Rowan, but Oberon hadn't permitted either her or Trinity to leave the table, and even ordered that they stay away from Rowan while he, Titania and Mab went to see just what the matter was. She had been more than outraged at that, and vaguely had wondered to herself why neither Ash nor Meghan had been included in the check-up on Catherine, but Puck had suggested it was because Catherine was not a part of Meghan's court and neither was Rowan, so that negated the need for either of the Iron rulers to step outside. It made sense, of course, but she'd felt like it was just another stupid tactic employed by Oberon and Mab to keep the Iron Monarchs as out of the loop as possible, though that hadn't worked very well when Puck had made it his business to go tell Ash just what was rotten in Denmark.

And while he'd been filling in his rival on what had gone down, Trinity and Nikki had put all of their energy into not getting out of their seats to go strangle Rowan, who had been lounging in his chair, observing the hall with total disinterest, with that smug little smirk on his face that Nikki loathed to no end, and when he had spotted them both giving him the evil eye he had even had the gall to wink at the both of them and flash a purely evil smile. Trinity had nearly lost it at that, and Nikki had been damn lucky Puck had shown up when he had to stop her, because there was no way in hell Nikki would have managed to do it on her own. When Trinity got going, there was no stopping her, though Nikki also secretly suspected Tertius had been partly responsible for helping her friend keep her head, since he'd given her quite the pointed look from where he sat right across from her.

Whatever the reason, Trinity had been able to resume her seat, though she never once stopped glaring at Rowan as the bastard Prince propped his feet up on the table and leaned back in his seat. Nikki hadn't been particularly pleased with Sage, either, as she held the eldest Winter Prince responsible for Catherine's flight in the first place, and if he hadn't made her leave—though he had really made Catherine do anything was still in question—then his brother wouldn't have been able to get a hold of her. At first she'd contemplated that perhaps they'd been working in tandem to get back at Catherine for escaping from Tir Na Nog, but then she'd realized how stupid an idea that would have been if Sage had been the one to hide Catherine from Rowan in the first place, not to mention the eldest Prince probably would have been facing the gallows if it had gotten out that he'd helped a half blood in the first place. In the end, Nikki had concluded that Sage had had his own reasons for upsetting Catherine, either accidentally or on purpose, and that Rowan's actions had been a completely separate scheme.

She had received a bit of confirmation on that by the way she'd watched Sage lean over to Rowan at one point while their mother was out in the hall and give his sibling a rather stern talking to that had left Rowan looking much less than pleased as he pointedly looked away from his older brother, his face twisted in a rather unattractive sneer. She hadn't heard what either Prince had said, but Puck had snickered at one point when Rowan had spoken back to Sage, and when she'd asked just what he'd said Puck had informed her Rowan had not so subtly told his brother to go fornicate by his lonesome.

When they had finally been permitted to leave the hall—what seemed ages later—Trinity and Nikki had rushed to Catherine's room, and though they had already heard about the damage done to Catherine by her encounter with Rowan, they hadn't been all prepared for it. Nikki had personally wanted to go back out into the hall and stab Rowan right in his ice cold heart, but she'd had to refrain from it. She had also wanted to confront Sage—since the eldest Prince had been part of the company to join them—but she had stopped herself from doing that, as well, since she couldn't really hope to accuse him of anything other than being there when Catherine had cried on the dance floor, even if she had ever suspicion that he had been the direct cause of her friend's meltdown. She'd wanted to talk to Cat about it later, once everyone else had left and they'd been alone for a few minutes after the healer had gone out of the room, but she had reminded herself of what Puck had told her earlier, and what Catherine had told her as well. Catherine would tell her what was wrong when she was ready… And Nikki might know it had something to do with Sage, but she had no real proof or idea of what exactly that entailed.

All in all, she was not happy with the way the night had ended, and just hoped that Demon and Sonata were able to take care of Catherine to the best of their abilities until they could start out in the morning and hopefully put this whole nightmarish incident behind them. She was tired of having to deal with the Courts and their stupid rules and etiquette. In the two weeks they'd been forced to remain there, waiting for Oberon's house arrest on Trinity to reach its end, she had missed being out in the wyldwood, where there were no real laws to keep her from doing what she pleased. She'd always spurned authority in any form, and even here, among the courts and the Kings and Queens, it was no different. She had no real respect for Oberon outside of the fact he was ancient and powerful, and she most certainly held no respect for either Titania and even less for Mab. Now, Ash and Meghan she had respect for, because they didn't just sit up on their high horses and dictate what should or shouldn't be done. They actually did things for the people around them, even though as Queen and Prince they had much more authority to order others around and get things done that way then personally involving themselves.

Even if the two weren't going to be the ones to directly accompany them starting in the morning to look for Wrath, Meghan had at least wanted to be there physically, as she had been when they'd gone out looking for Catherine, and Nikki was grateful for that. So even if Glitch and Tertius were going in place of their Queen and Prince, she didn't mind, especially not when that meant Trinity would have time to be alone with Tertius away from the watchful and condemning eyes of the Summer Court. She knew it meant a lot to her friend that she get that time with the Iron Knight, considering the only way they'd been able to correspond in the past half of a month was through smuggled letters carried back and forth by Sorrel's personal couriers.

And now looking at possibly an entire week out looking for the King of Cats and no Courts to keep them from doing it, Trinity and Tertius might actually get some bonding time, and Nikki felt the two deserved that more than anything. She knew it hadn't exactly been a long commitment between her friend and the knight, but she didn't need bifocals to see how much the two already cared about each other. So long as Trinity was happy, and Tertius remembered his place and how to properly treat her friend, Nikki didn't have a bad word to say about the two of them together. She only hoped nothing would end up coming between them, because the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a 'Romeo and Juliet' scenario waiting to happen, though she sincerely doubted that either one of them would go so far as to fake or actually commit suicide if something built up a wall of separation. More than likely Trinity would storm the fortress in question from one side while Tertius worked from the opposite end until they tore the whole thing down.

The two of them were strong willed and stubborn as all belief, and Nikki doubted anything would manage to keep them apart for long, even threat of death. Though maybe that was a stretch of the truth…

Abruptly, there was a cool breeze on the back of her neck, making her shiver, and she was just about to turn over when a menacing voice spoke right in her ear, "Hello, pretty."

She shrieked aloud, her hand whipping out and nearly catching Puck right in the face before the faery could pull back to avoid the hit, giving an exclamation of his own, though his face split into an enormous grin as she gaped up at him, her dark eyes round and enormous with alarm.

"You _ass_!" she hissed, throwing a punch into his chest, realizing a split second later he wasn't wearing a shirt as her knuckles smacked into warm, bare flesh. "That wasn't funny, Robin! That scared the hell out of me! And put a shirt on!"

"I have pants on, don't I?" Puck said through his laughter, already snuggling down into the bed beside her, yanking the covers over both of them as he snaked an arm around her rigid frame and drawing her up against him, his emerald eyes glowing in the darkness. "My, my, you're just a little worry wart, aren't you? And was I really that scary?"

"I didn't hear you come out of the bathroom," she snapped, thumping his chest again and glaring up at him.

"That's because I am a ninja," he told her seriously. "A faery ninja."

"How do you get away with saying crap like that?" she demanded incredulously. "That has got to be the biggest load of crap I have ever heard and you just said it, so I know it's not a lie, but how the hell is it true?!"

"That's my secret," he told her with a sly wink. "Maybe I'll tell you one day when you have mastered the ways of the faery ninja on your own. But much still you have to learn, young Padawan."

"You're such a dork, I can't believe you're quoting Star Wars," she grumbled, even as she snuggled closer into his embrace and rested her forehead against his bare chest.

"Would you prefer Star Trek?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, my God, you're a Trekkie, too?" she asked, sounding so despairing that he burst out laughing again.

"Hey, you know what it is," he told her, amusement in his green eyes as he nuzzled the top of her head.

"Because I knew this dude who used to be one," Nikki muttered sullenly, "It was all he ever talked about. It was awful. I suffered eighth grade hearing more than I ever wanted to know about Spock."

"Aw, now, what's wrong with Spock?" asked Puck.

"Nothing, I just didn't want to spend forty minutes every day stuck listening to how Spock did this and that and the other," Nikki sighed, her eyes closing again as she was lulled slightly by the warmth of Puck's body against hers.

"Do not belittle Spock's accomplishments," Puck told her in a mock serious voice, though his smile was gentle as he looked down at her, lifting a hand to idly brush back strands of her mahogany colored hair. "He was a great man."

"Mm-hmm," sighed Nikki in amusement. "Not as great as some other men I know."

"Because you know so many?" inquired Puck, his eyebrows shooting up.

"Just one in particular stands out among the rest, really," she admitted tiredly, burrowing closer to him, slipping her arms around his lean waist.

"Oh, and who would that be?" he asked quietly, running a hand through her hair as his eyes fell halfway closed.

"This really awesome dude," she said, "He's famous. He has poems written about him, and stories and plays, and he has this totally awesome sense of humor. He can be a bit obnoxious at times, but that's just another part of his character that makes him so great."

"Yeah?" Puck was smiling into her hair as his eyes closed all the way. "Does this totally awesome guy have a name?"

"Mm-hmm," sighed Nikki, barely awake now.

"And what is it?" Puck whispered softly.

Nikki smiled as she rested her head over his chest, hearing his rapid heartbeat just under her ear.

"Robin Goodfellow…"

"I think I've heard of him," Puck murmured, "But I think there was one other huge thing about him that makes him so amazing…"

"Hm?" Nikki's eyes fluttered tiredly. "And what's that?"

"Well, you see, there's this girl," Puck said softly, speaking against her temple as he gently curled his fingers in her hair, "And he probably wouldn't be anywhere near as awesome without her, because until she showed up he hadn't really been able to remember what fun or happiness was, and she helped him remember. But the really awesome part is how totally and madly in love with her he is…"

"That _is _awesome," Nikki agreed sleepily, her smile growing as her eyes dropped closed again, "Does this chick have a name?"

"A very beautiful one, yes," Puck murmured.

"Yeah? What is it?"

Robin's eyes glowed vibrantly green in the darkness as he opened them to look down at the girl half asleep in his arms, and his face broke into a tender smile as he whispered,

"Nicolette Rivers."

Trinity sat in the courtyard of Oberon's palace, staring vacantly ahead of her, not really noticing in the scenery around her, ignoring the couple of dryads that peered out from their trees at her as she sat on the edge of the nearby fountain—one of many—and gazed ahead towards the bramble gates leading into the palace grounds, vaguely noting their long, lethally sharp briars. As she looked at those thorns, she felt a low, vicious burn in her gut, and her hands clenched into fists in her lap as she thought of how, just a few short hours ago, those thorns had buried themselves into Catherine's back… She took a deep breath as fury burned higher and higher in her, threatening to rob her of good sense, but even when she'd leashed it she still felt the overwhelming urge to break something, just to let out some steam.

"It just sucks," she growled under her breath, clenching and unclenching her hands, her sapphire eyes narrowing to slits as she glared across the yard at the seemingly unoffending thorns, imagining she could see them coated in red blood. "This shouldn't have happened…"

"While I agree with you, things happen regardless of whether they should or shouldn't," murmured a soft voice behind her, and she turned her head to see Tertius standing there, looking down at her with his silvery eyes full of sympathy and warmth. "Bad things happen to good people, and there's nothing we can really do about it…"

Trinity gazed up at the Iron Knight, momentarily thrown by just how he managed to look in the light of the moon cast down from above them. She'd thought upon their first meeting that he was Ash's identical twin, and nothing less, but looking at him now, she was realizing she'd been kind of stupid to think that. While they definitely shared similarities in appearance, she could also see every way that they differed from each other. Sure, they had the same pitch black hair, but Tertius's was slightly longer, laying against his neck and into his silvery eyes, which were just a couple shades darker than Ash's were, and always seemed somehow wiser than Ash's, despite the certainty that the Iron Prince was sure to be centuries older than his Iron counterpart. Then there were the differences in their faces. They were both equally fair skinned and beautiful, but Tertius had a more honed, steely appearance in the set of his face, and she suspected it was because, in a manner of speaking, he _was _steel. He'd been born of steel and technology, so his face reflected that with its hard planes and angles, though she was slowly becoming intrigued with how soft the curve of his mouth was in contrast to that masculine hardness in his face.

Then there was the scar on his face, just beneath his eye and striking straight down to his chin, as though in a past experience someone had slashed at him with a dagger of some kind. It was such a thin line, and barely noticeable, but in the light of the moonbeams she could see it standing out against the rest of his skin, a vivid line, just slightly elevated, casting the smallest of shadows across his cheek, a mark of his bravery and his struggles.

And when he smiled, that small line curved as well, softening his whole appearance and bringing melting warmth to his eyes that turned them to liquid silver.

"Did you hear anything I just said?" he asked her softly, cocking his head to the side with that little smile on his face.

"Uh-huh," she said hazily, blinking up at him.

Amusement glimmered in his mercury colored gaze, and he took a slow step towards her, his movements graceful and silent, like a predator, but there was no threat in his approach.

"Did you really?" he asked, laughter in his voice as he drew level with her, gracefully sinking down onto the fountain lip beside her, turning to look at her with that intense silver gaze.

"Yeah, I did," she said, a little more firmly this time, finally tearing her eyes away from his face.

She had _not _been staring at him…

He chuckled softly and she glanced back in time to see him flash his trademark smile at her, and she felt her heart give a giddy kick. Yeah, she'd totally been staring at him…

"Then what did I say?" he inquired lightly, arching a dark eyebrow at her as he stretched out his long legs in front of him, crossing his ankles.

"Something about shit happens," she said, and he laughed.

"I suppose that's an accurate summarization," he mused, looking highly entertained as he gazed at her through sparkling silver eyes. "Though, you could try hearing a little more about the part where there's nothing we can do about it."

"Can't we?" she asked, a little argumentatively, and he frowned at her, his humor slowly dimming away.

"Unfortunately, no, we can't," he said, shaking his head so his charcoal hair shone blue-black in the moonlight. "At least, we can't do anything about wishing we'd prevented it when it has already happened."

"Then what _can _we do, if not that?" she asked, feeling a little hopeless as she looked up into his fair face, feeling her heart give a painful little jolt as she thought of Catherine. "She's already gone through so much crap that it's just not fair…"

"Help her move on, then," Tertius murmured softly. "Be there when she needs you."

"I've tried," said Trinity, looking down at her feet. She'd changed out of her gown before coming outside, now dressed in black sweats and a loose fitting 'Nirvana' t-shirt, not feeling compliant enough to put up with Oberon's 'no mortal clothes' rule for the night. "I just…I try to be there for her but she makes it so hard when she won't tell me what's wrong."

It was hard, and it upset her more than anything to think that Catherine wasn't telling her things that were undoubtedly important. Things that were taking their toll on her health and wellbeing while she kept it all bottled up inside because she was afraid of making either Trinity or Nikki worry. For so long she had been the one to keep the three of them safe and happy, because, as the eldest, she'd always kind of elected herself the big sister figure to her friends, but since they'd gotten to the Nevernever so many things had changed…Not just physically among them but emotionally and mentally. They were all looking for something, answers. Catherine was looking for her father, with Demon as her constant guardian now instead of Trinity, and Nikki was also looking for her mother, though not quite as actively as of yet, and though she didn't quite need the protection Catherine did, she still had someone else looking out for her. Puck…Robin Goodfellow…Summer's prankster, Oberon's right hand, and one of the Nevernever's most ancient and powerful faeries.

With someone like that watching out for her, why did she have to worry if Trinity had her back? That was just it…she didn't…

"I just want to be there for them," she whispered, feeling her eyes burn with sudden tears, "I've always been there for them, but now they've got other people looking out for them and…I just don't even know what to do anymore…"

"Continue to be there for them," Tertius told her very softly, and she felt the warmth of his hand close around hers as he slid his fingers into hers. "Just because there are new people looking after them doesn't mean they need you any less than they did before, Trinity. Catherine may have Demon, but Demon can only do so much for her, because he only knows so much about her. And Nicolette may have Goodfellow, but while they love each other he can never take your place as her friend and her sister. They will always need you, regardless of the changes that come."

"It doesn't feel like it," she mumbled, lifting her free hand to wipe at the hot tears in her eyes. "I feel kind of left behind…They've all got such huge plans to go on with…Cat's going to go talk to a King of Cats to see if he can help find her dad, and then Nikki's going to try to find out where her mom is…and I didn't even meet my dad…"

"I know he would be very proud of you," Tertius murmured, his thumb feathering softly back and forth across her hand. "I heard many things about him from the other Iron fey when I was new into the world. He was very strong, very loyal to Oberon. And he was just. He was one of the few people the Iron fey really feared in the Nevernever, and when we heard of his death a few years ago, Prince Ash demanded we have a ceremony of mourning in his honor. Even Lady Mab in Tir Na Nog held a day of recognition for him. He was very famous in the Nevernever, and very well respected. And to be his daughter is a great privilege."

"There were just so many things I wanted to ask him," Trinity murmured, her voice trembling slightly. "Things I feel like only he could have answered, and now I'll never get to know about this or that…like whether or not he really loved my mom or not…whether he even cared about me…"

"Would he have left you as the heir to his title if he didn't care about you?" Tertius asked in his soft voice, and he brought his other hand to her back, massaging gently as she hunched over, sobbing quietly. "Would he have even acknowledged you as his daughter if he didn't think about you?"

She shook her head without speaking, too choked up on tears to manage coherent speech, and just let Tertius comfort her, glad for his presence and the warmth of his hands on hers.

"Whatever your father thought of your mother," Tertius murmured, his head close to hers as he spoke, his warm breath yet another comfort against her tear stained cheek, "I know he cared for you. Who couldn't? You are an amazing, talented, determined woman, Trinity. A man like your father couldn't have been prouder of a daughter like you, because you are everything he strived to be in his life. Fair, just, loyal, protective. You embody all of those ideals. Just look at the way you look out for Nicolette and Catherine. You honor your father's memory by being the woman you are. I do not believe he would have asked for anything more of you than what you have already given."

"I miss him," Trinity said, hiccupping slightly as she leaned into Tertius, and he put his arms around her, letting her weep into his chest, "I never even knew him and I miss him. When I got here, when I found out that he really did exist, I felt like this huge weight was gone off of my chest. I lived all my life thinking my father abandoned me and my mom, that he didn't care, and then I got here and found out that the man I'd lived my whole life thinking was my dad was just some loser my mom had thought she cared about. I wanted to meet my real dad, to see what he was like, to know if he had cared about my mom and if he'd known I existed, and if he did why he never came back, and then…then I hear that he died years ago in some stupid war…"

Tertius rested his chin on top of her ivory head, his silver eyes sorrowful as he listened to her cry, and felt the warm wetness of her tears against his neck, staining his tunic, but he did not mind it at all and merely held her, rocking her gently back and forth.

"I just wanted to know him," she said tearfully, "And now I can't…and I feel so lost…"

"You don't have to be lost," he murmured softly, running a hand through her silky hair as she continued to sob against his shoulder. "You don't have to be afraid of being lost…you just have to ask someone for help…"

"I'm afraid to ask for help," she confessed.

"It's okay to be afraid," he told her. "You can't be brave if you don't know fear. It's what makes us all stronger. If we didn't have something to be afraid of, how could we find the strength and the courage to face the other trials around us? There is nothing wrong with being afraid of asking for help, Trinity, but so long as you continue to be afraid, you can't hope to overcome that fear."

"I don't know how to," she whispered.

"Then let me help you," he said, gently pushing her back, cupping her chin and coaxing her to look up at him, which she did reluctantly, her sapphire eyes still brimming with tears. He wiped the diamond-like drops away with the pad of his thumb, gazing down into her sparkling blue eyes. "Let me help you, Trinity, so you don't have to keep being afraid of letting someone help you."

She stared up at him, lost for words, and lost period as his mercury colored eyes burned into hers, until all she could do was nod helplessly.

"It will be okay," he murmured, smiling his soft smile as he brushed more tears from her cheeks, "I promise, Trinity, everything will be okay…"

She sniffled pathetically and nodded again, dropping her gaze when she couldn't bear to keep looking at him, embarrassed by her momentary lapse of control, though in her heart she knew he didn't care. He wouldn't care if she cried enough to fill a river and then some, he'd just sit there and hold her, like he was now, and let her do it. And, really, that's all she wanted for the moment. Hiccupping, she leaned back into him, circling his waist with her arms as he gently cradled her to his chest, his lips against her temple as he murmured softly in Fey, things she distantly understood, but couldn't quite distinguish clearly. She just listened to him speak softly in his native tongue, and closed her eyes as she buried her face in his shoulder, and his fingers trailed through her silky ivory hair. Beside them, the fountain bubbled and sang softly, its crystal waters splashing down into the basin around it, and overhead the moon sat quietly in the sky, looking down on them from his aged face.

It took a few more minutes before Trinity finally managed to cry herself out, and still she sat, leaning into Tertius, and he held her, not speaking, still gently petting her hair and gazing off over her head towards the far gate, a distant, meditative expression on his face. Trinity was the one to break away first, stirring in his arms and straightening until he let his arms slip away a little, though he dropped a hand to hers, linking fingers as she used the other hand to wipe at her damp face.

"Sorry," she mumbled, pushing her hair from her face and sniffling. "I didn't mean to do that…"

"It's better you do," he murmured, lifting his free hand to stroke her cheek, drawing away a rogue tear. "If you keep all of that emotion pent up inside you, you'd be surprised how quickly it can destroy you."

"Has it ever happened to you?" she asked in a slightly ragged voice, looking up at him through over bright blue eyes. "You've kept so much emotion inside that you lost yourself?"

"No," he admitted, smiling softly, "But I have seen it happen to others, and none of the outcomes that happen are desirable. Either they become so consumed by their emotions they go mad, or they eventually burst, like a broken dam, and anyone who gets in their way is destroyed along with them."

"It's horrible," she whispered, and he nodded somberly.

"I wouldn't wish it on anyone," he murmured, "Least of all you. So, please, even if you feel like you can't show this side to anyone else, at least show it to me, so you don't have to be so alone when you don't have anywhere else to turn. You talked about how you've always been there for Catherine and Nicolette, but you never mentioned who's been there for you all these years."

Trinity shrugged lamely, sniffling and gazing down into the diamond waters of the fountain.

"We've just kind of been there for each other," she mumbled, watching idly as the waters bubbled and danced before her eyes, "Just kind of boosting one another up when we needed it. We were each other's safety nets when we fell. I just took the lead because I felt like I had to be there for them more than they had to be there for me."

"But that isn't always the way things work," Tertius murmured, also turning his silvery gaze down to the waters, a small frown on his face. "To act equally as each other's nets, you can't have one leader above the others. Otherwise you have one safety net and two back up nets. And if you keep using that one main net, sooner or later something will become worn and unravel until the net finally breaks and everyone falls through it."

"So, I'm a faulty net?" Trinity asked, making a weak attempt at humor.

"You are an overused net," Tertius corrected her with a small smile directed at her as she lifted her gaze to meet his. "And I am recommending you let someone else stand in while you build yourself back up."

"I'm open to suggestions about who to make the stand in if you're offering them," she told him, "Because all my general selections are kind of out of service at the moment."

"I might not be the best on the market," Tertius said, leaning in until their foreheads touched, "But would you consider possibly an Iron net?"

"If that was a pun off 'Iron knight', you get points for creativity," she said with a watery smile, "And I would definitely consider Iron netting. I here Iron has much better resilience in any case."

"So long as you give it the proper treatment and repairs," he said, his silver eyes glowing like molten mercury.

"Just give me the maintenance list and I'll see what I can do," she murmured, and he chuckled.

"Give me a few days to write one up," he replied, and she giggled weakly.

"Sounds like a long list," she said as they straightened up and he brushed her bangs out of her face.

"No, just very detailed," he said, lowering his hand to take hers, now linking both of their hands together. "I try to be thorough."

"That's a good thing," she told him, and he smiled.

"Glitch tells me it's an annoying habit of mine," he confided in a low murmur.

"Glitch is just jealous your excellent skills of observation and detailing," she said with a small smirk. "Because I have every belief he sucks at planning."

"He really does, actually," said Tertius with a small grimace, and she giggled again. "It's quite unfortunate for a soldier and lieutenant of the Iron Court, but everyone has their faults. I suppose it is why Prince Ash always consults me first and foremost for planning, though Glitch is his right hand."

"I thought you were Ash's right hand," said Trinity, bemused.

"No, I am more like the right foot," he explained with a wry smile, "He can't move without me."

"So he can't write without Glitch?" Trinity asked, grinning.

"More along the lines of he cannot slap someone without Glitch," Tertius replied. "I find that every time Prince Ash decides to discipline someone he generally has Glitch with him. Thus, I have come to the conclusion that as his right hand he uses Glitch to carry out punishments."

"It's a good theory," she said thoughtfully, "Though I was really hoping you were going to tell me that Ash literally picked Glitch up and slapped someone with him. The imagery was a lot better that way."

Tertius chuckled in amusement and shook his head, looking down at their linked hands with glimmering silver eyes.

"I suppose it is funnier," he agreed softly, gently sliding his hands away from hers, only to place them palm to palm, splaying their fingers.

Trinity watched him, a little confused by the look of interest playing across the knight's face as he examined their hands pressed together, and as just considering asking him just what was so intriguing when he glanced up at her with a small smile.

"You really have such delicate hands," he told her, and she found herself blushing for absolutely no reason at all.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," she admitted, to which he frowned in confusion. "I've worked with horses my whole life, and not once has someone told me I have delicate hands. It almost makes it sound like I spent fifteen years in a barn just admiring the animals with my hands in my pockets instead of brushing them, washing them, saddling them…"

"Well, when you put it like that," said Tertius with a low chuckle, "Then you have very experienced hands, but they are still very delicate. You can have delicate hands even if you've put them to work for your whole life."

"Yeah?" Trinity was looking at his hand now, noting how slender his fingers were, despite the broadness of his palm, which very nearly dwarfed hers as they continued to lay their hands palm to palm. "You work with swords, right?"

"Generally," he agreed, cocking his head to the side as she lowered her hand, only to take his and flip it over, examining his palm intently.

"I thought you might have more calluses from all the swordsmanship," she mused, idly tracing a finger along the lines in his palm like she was following the trails on a map, "But you don't…You have very…elegant hands."

She'd hesitated to say 'delicate' because the word just didn't fit at all with the persona of a knight, and she wasn't trying to insult him. Lifting her gaze to his, she found him smiling in amusement, his silver eyes glittering in the moonlight.

"Do I?" he asked, arching a dark eyebrow, and she nodded.

"Very noble hands," she confirmed, looking back down at his palm as she continued to trace patterns idly in the center of it, "Suitable of a knight."

"Well, I thank you for the compliment, my Lady," he murmured, chuckling slightly. "I am sure no one else has ever told me such a thing…"

"I'd imagine because no one takes the time to look at your hands," she guessed with a small smile, leaning over his hand, now drawing her finger along each one of his.

"I would imagine not," he agreed, smiling as well as she finally straightened up and looked up at him through shining sapphire eyes. "I might have thought it odd if they had."

"You scared of someone with a hand fetish?" she teased him, and he laughed.

"I might be if I ever encountered one," he mused, "Though I think there would probably be a couple of exceptions to the rule."

"Yeah?" She grinned at him. "What if Nikki has a hand fetish you don't know about?"

"I feel that would be more a dilemma for Goodfellow than myself, as I don't see a reason for her to have any real interest in my hands," he told her with a small smirk.

"And what if Cat has a hand fetish?" she asked, cocking an ivory brow. "Demon won't stay in human form forever, and then he'll be back to having paws, then what?"

"Then I suppose she and I might have to have a discussion about the matter should it ever come down to her obsessing over my hands," he answered.

"Hmmm, you've got good answers," she told him, and he chortled.

"My rapier wit, no doubt," he joked, laughter dancing in his silvery eyes.

"Of course," she snickered, then paused to think over something before giving him a devious look. "What if _I _have a hand fetish?"

"Ah, then that would be a serious problem," he told her in a mock severe tone, for his grin gave away his amusement as he looked down at her. "I am afraid I would have to take you to task for such a thing, my Lady."

"Uh-huh," she said, eyeing him disbelievingly. "And you would get away with 'taking me to task' how exactly?"

"As I understand it, it is a long way to Lord Wrath's home," he said, smirking, "A good five to seven days' travel. I am sure that is more than an adequate amount of time to give you proper discipline."

"Ooh, you did not just insinuate what I think you insinuated," she said, gaping at him and fighting the urge to laugh.

"And what do you think I insinuated, my Lady?" he asked, a devious glint coming into his eyes.

"I don't know," she admitted, leaning away from him with a wary expression, "But it was dirty."

Tertius threw back his head and laughed at that, and after a moment of struggling Trinity joined him, unable to help herself.

"That wasn't even that funny," she giggled when they'd finally calmed down a little bit, leaning into him with her forehead on his chest. "Why did we laugh that hard?"

"Nerves, I would guess," he chuckled, coiling an arm around her waist and rubbing his chin across the top of her head. "We're both delirious from tonight's events and fearful of what the morrow might present for us."

"That's totally it," she agreed with a small grin, then grimaced, "Which means I need to get to bed soon, or someone or other is going to come out here and give me grief for still being up…not to mention if it's someone we don't like they won't be happy at all to see us like this…"

She drew away from Tertius, frowning up at him, and he looked mournfully back as she sighed and gently slid her hands out of his.

"Just for the night," he said soothingly, lifting a hand to gently tuck a strand of ivory hair behind her ear.

"I know," she murmured, turning her cheek into his touch, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment as he cradled her face in his warm palm. "I still don't like it…"

"That would make two of us, then," he said with a small hint of amusement.

"Mm-hmm…" She sighed, opening her eyes and reaching up to reluctantly pull his hand down from her face, though she didn't immediately release her grip once he'd dropped his hand to his knee and instead applied gentle pressure to his fingers, which he returned. "Think you can promise me something?"

"Of course," he murmured, his silver eyes glowing in the darkness.

Trinity paused to cast a wary glance around them, ensuring they were alone, save the curious gazes of the dryads, though she didn't pay them much notice as she leaned forward until her lips were at Tertius's ear and he inclined his head to hear her.

"Once we're out of Arcadia," she murmured quietly, barely speaking above a whisper, "And so long as I can beat Glitch to within an inch of his life if he says anything smart about it, I think you owe me a kiss."

"I think you're right," he agreed in a conspirator's murmur, "And I will happily pay what is owed to you, and you are more than welcome to beat Glitch to within an inch of his life, even if he _doesn't _say anything smart about it."

"I might just take you up on that," she said with a devious smirk as she leaned away, and he flashed a rather fiendish smile in response.

She heaved a sigh then, looking over her shoulder towards the palace, which rose up into the night sky, ominous and not at all as welcoming as she wished it was.

"I should go," she murmured regretfully, frowning as she looked back at him, and he nodded his understanding, though there was an almost sorrowful look in his eyes as they both rose to their feet. "What time will we see you tomorrow?"

"Goodfellow is planning to bring you back through the trod he used to get you here a fortnight ago," Tertius murmured, "We will be waiting there whenever you arrive. According to him and the Cait Sith, it should be early morning."

"So hopefully soon," she murmured, glancing up at the moon, which still hung in the sky, not quite ready to move on yet.

"Hopefully," he echoed her with a small smile, and stepped forward so they were almost toe-to-toe, and stooped to kiss her cheek. "Either way, I'll be waiting."

"I won't make you wait too long, then," she said, smiling back at him as he straightened, feeling her heart thud against her ribs as her cheek fairly burned from the brief touch of his lips.

"It's a date, then," he said with a soft chuckle, and she giggled.

"You're getting into the human slang," she said. "I don't know if that's good or bad."

"A mixture of both, I have no doubt," he said, silver eyes warm as he looked down at her.

"Probably," she agreed.

They stood there a moment longer in silence, neither of them wanting to be the one to step away first, but knowing they couldn't continue to stand there. Finally, just when Trinity felt she'd have to be the one to break away, a dry cough sounded very close by, nearly scaring her into yelping, and when she turned rapidly to look at the source of the noise, which had come from just over by the bramble gate, it was to see a pair of violet eyes watching her and Tertius with a kind of lazy amusement as Glitch ambled into the open, a small grin on his face.

"Glitch, don't do that again," Tertius said warningly to his companion while Trinity tried to get her heart rate back to a moderate pace.

"Aw, come on, I had to give you a little scare, didn't I?" asked the violet eyed knight as he sauntered up to them. "Besides, how am I going to get the point across that if you two can't act normal around each other you're as good as screwed if someone else catches you?"

"We already got the point," said Trinity heatedly, "So don't do that again."

"Fine, fine," sighed Glitch, putting his hands up in surrender and rolling his eyes heavenwards, "Just don't come crying to me if you two get spanked because you got caught playing kissy face with each other."

"You are not helping," Tertius said coldly, narrowing his silver eyes.

"Not my job to help, just to hinder, now let's get a move on, before we give Ash something else to bitch at me about," Glitch said, taking Tertius firmly by the arm and beginning to drag him away, inclining his head briefly to Trinity as he pulled his companion along. "We'll be seeing you in the morning, and then I don't care what the two of you do, but we're going now, because I'm not getting my ear chewed off because I let you two get cozy in the courtyard."

Tertius cast Trinity an apologetic look as he was being towed off, and she flashed him a reassuring smile and raised a hand in farewell, trying not to let the pain in her chest overwhelm her, just remembering that it was only a little while longer and she'd see him again, and then neither Glitch nor anyone else could get in the way.

"Tomorrow, then," she called as the two knights headed for the bramble gate, which curled back out of their way as they approached.

"And not a day later!" Glitch called back while Tertius lifted a hand before he was dragged forcibly past the gate, which immediately sealed up behind them, blocking the two from sight.

Trinity stood in the now silent and empty courtyard, feeling her heart sink almost straight to her toes. Taking a deep sigh, she turned her feet towards the palace and began to trudge her way up towards the entrance doors, feeling wearier with every step she took, and continuing to remind herself that it wouldn't be long, and she'd see Tertius again. Not like the past two weeks where she'd had to wait, sending him letters in secret, and waiting anxiously for his to return. They'd actually get to see each other. Physically see each other…and with that as her reward for the morning, she trudged off to bed, grateful, at least, that she didn't encounter anyone in the halls, and as she sank into bed, kicking off her shoes before curling up beneath the covers, she felt a smile touch her face as her cheek heated on the exact place where Tertius had placed his parting kiss.

Tomorrow would come, she thought, slowly drifting off to sleep, still with that soft smile on her face, and after that everything else in the world could wait.


	25. Chapter 25

It was dark out in the wyldwood, and silent, which came as somewhat of a surprise, since he was so used to hunting among the frenzied scuffling and cries of the night creatures that prowled the shadows with him, around him, but they seemed to be sleeping tonight, oddly enough. It didn't particularly bother him, since it made it so much easier to focus in on his prey, and not have to worry about whether the banshee lurking over by the ferns would raise a racket right before he got within range. But nothing stirred, and though he probably should have been concerned for the lack of natural chaos that generally haunted the woods at this time of the hour—the fabled witching hour—he had always considered such premonitions of danger less than worthy of his notice. Anyone foolish enough to come at him, even if they were a specter of the night, would have had to be some kind of suicidal maniac to even think they'd get away with the attempt. No one attacked him and walked away from it in one piece, if they even got in a good blow before he turned on them. After all, only the truly mentally unstable or stupidly brave threatened the Big Bad Wolf.

He was the ruler of the darkness, and of the wyldwood. He might not have a fancy tiara like Oberon and Mab liked to wear when they flaunted their power, but he knew he was ruler here. The woods spoke to him, called to him, and worshipped him. Centuries of human lore had given him his power and his title, and he wore it like the finest crown, and no one had dared to question him on it yet.

The great black Wolf paused at the edge of the trees, peering down with yellow-green eyes towards the clearing beyond, feeling his hackles rising as he reflected on his thoughts. A grimace had him baring his long fangs, and a low snarl rumbled from his chest.

Well, he couldn't quite say in all honesty he hadn't been called out before…There had been one brave enough to do it, or, rather, one powerful enough to question his power without even needing to speak a word to him. Even now, remembering that time, what seemed days ago, though it had been almost half of his life ago, he felt a bitter taste on his tongue, and he snorted in disgust, shaking out his ruffled black coat, flicking back his ears, and slunk forward, head low, eyes burning in the darkness. He'd been foolish back then, so assured of his own prowess and legendary title that he'd thought nothing could stop him, not even the great Summer King or the heartless Winter Queen. He had been the King of all things of the darkness, a monarch of nightmares, terrifying humans at his leisure, building his legends until they towered even over the Summer and Winter bluebloods, who had not dared to cross him, though they had made a spectacular show in their turn of ensuring that everyone in the whole of Faery knew they didn't fear him at all. They merely respected him, but neither of the great faery rulers would ever have stooped to admitting that they feared that hulking shadow that prowled the darkest parts of the wyldwood, haunting even their dreams.

But there had been one who had not cowered or even made the suggestion that he either feared or respected the Wolf. Funny, he thought, reflecting back on it, how easily he could recall his first ever meeting with that monster…It seemed so clear in his memory, yet it had been over three hundred years since their last encounter, and even longer since their very first. It had been at night, as was the usual way for the Wolf to meet people, since he did not generally make it his habit to appear in daylight, taking pleasure in his ability to frighten the unwary with his appearances in the darkness. He had been hunting, his usual pastime, near the Briars on the far ends of the Nevernever, though he'd had no determined target in mind. He had merely ambled along in the shadows, occasionally leaping out at the unsuspecting dryad or minotaur, relishing in how they had shrieked and fled before him, terrified for their pitiful lives, and he had watched them, sometimes indulging enough to give chase for a short while before leaving them to scurry for cover, the memory of him forever imprinted in their minds as they cowered in terror in their hidey holes and in their trees.

It had been a good start to the night, but he had been hungry after a few extra chases and spooks, and spotting a likely meal in the form of a brilliant white stag, he had begun the hunt. It had been a painstaking process, as the stag had seemed wary of him, though it never caught sight of him as he'd prowled in absolute silence through the undergrowth. It was always just out of reach of him, and when he would finally manage to get within a reasonable distance it would lift its antlered head and prance off further. He had been patient, stalking it nearly three miles across the dark tangled landscape that made up the Briars, though after nearly five hours on the hunt, feeling his stomach slowly shriveling in on itself, he had begun to lose his patience, and was just considering making a run at the stag when it had finally ended up cornered, having led itself right into a thick tangle of brambles and foliage, and he had seen his chance at last. He had felt the swelling triumph in him as he approached it, finally melting out of the shadows to reveal himself, letting it know death was imminent, smelling its fear as it pawed nervously at the ground, rearing its great head. He had approached at his leisure, taking satisfaction in having finally cornered his prey, but just as he had been ready to make the attack, the very final kill, something had moved in the darkness. A presence more menacing than his own, and the stag had given a violent start, shrieking out into the darkness and leaping straight up as an enormous shadow had hit from the side, deathly silent, and a moment later, in a flurry of claws and fangs, the stag lay dead.

The Wolf had not even been within eight feet of the beast as it lifted its head, its vermillion eyes glinting in the darkness as it turned slowly to face him, and for the briefest instance, not even enough time for a heart to beat, he had been afraid. He had been terrified by those soulless, blood red eyes with their vertical slits, staring down at him from the darkness, cold, emotionless, unyielding. But it had been that final look, the look of total disregard as the beast turned away from him, that had finally trigged his fury, and he had let out a roar that shook the earth, baring fangs at the hulking shadow before him, which hadn't even had the nerve to look at him as it bent its head towards the dead stag.

He had attacked, furious. Furious for his moment of weakness, furious for the interference on this unknown beast's behalf, furious that he had not been the one to deal the final blow to his prey, and with a flying leap he had lunged at the creature. He hadn't even landed on the beast's back when it vanished, like mist banished with the morning light, and he had slammed into the ground, snarling and roaring with fury and frustration as he lunged back to his feet, swinging his head around, glaring into the shadows, searching, hunting.

"How pathetic," a voice had murmured just behind him, a low, eerie voice, as old as time, and he had felt a tremor go down his spine, curling into his paws so he stood rooted to the spot, his yellow-green eyes bulging. "You dogs… how utterly wretched…"

The shadows moved again, and he whirled around, baring his ivory fangs, snarling a warning, as a shape appeared among the writhing mass of darkness, and a pair of unblinking crimson eyes opened to stare at him through the impenetrable blackness, assessing him without so much as a flicker of interest or fear.

"Show yourself," the Wolf snarled, his muzzle pulled back in a grimace of teeth.

"If you cannot open your eyes enough to see me for yourself, pup, it is no fault of mine that you are blind," the disembodied voice had murmured, and the crimson eyes had narrowed in disdain at him. "Your kind are a wretched people…always blind unless led along by the paw…You could not even properly dispatch of that stag, though you hunted it for nearly the entire night."

"That was my prey," the Wolf spat furiously, clawing at the ground, his jet black hackles rising.

"Your prey," scoffed the voice, "What a pitiful joke…It was no more your prey than mine until the moment I killed it, and then it became mine. You only fancied it as yours as you did not have the capacity to think that anyone but yourself was interested in such a prize. That is your own folly and I will not be held responsible for your inadequacies."

"Do not speak to me in such a way!" The Wolf was seeing red by this point, and not just the red of the damned eyes in front of him. "Do you even know who I am?! Do you have any idea who are you talking to?!"

The eyes did not blink. "Should I?" the voice asked coolly.

He hadn't been able to think past that. Just the total lack of interest and regard in the two words had thrown him completely for a loop, and he hadn't been able to do more but stand there, still frozen in a posture of rage, though his eyes had stretched wide in disbelief as he stared back into the vermillion orbs hovering in the air before him, watching him uncaringly. It had seemed impossible to him, a total stretch of all he knew, that this…this _thing_ standing here, talking to him, could so easily say such a thing as should it know him? He'd thought it a joke. A pathetic attempt to slide out of the way of his anger and retaliation, but those damned eyes had continued to watch him, judging him, putting him lower than the beast facing him, and he had realized it was no jest. This creature really did not have any idea who he was…well, maybe he'd fix that.

"I am the nightmare all humans fear," he snarled through his bared teeth, narrowing yellow-green eyes, fur bristling. "I am the monster that stalks through their dreams and torments them in the shadows so they know nothing but the fear that comes with the rising of the moon. I am the King of the wyldwood. The humans have named me the Big Bad Wolf."

The vermillion eyes had flickered slightly, and the Wolf had felt a surge of satisfaction to see it was recognition that glimmered briefly in those eyes, though just as he had felt he had made his statement, the voice gave a small snort and the eyes looked him slowly up and down.

"So," the voice murmured, the tone of it totally and utterly condescending, "You are the whelp. Yes…come to think of it, I believe I have heard vague rumors of a pup running amuck in the wyldwood claiming to be the newest tall tale among the mortals. How truly unfortunate…I was expecting much more of a champion."

"You dare to insult me?" the Wolf hissed, his fury coming back in a vengeful rush, and he took a menacing step towards the eyes, which glowed with dark amusement.

"I do not insult," the voice said quietly, a velvety purr of menace that had the wolf stopping in his tracks, "I merely observe, and what I observe is that you, pup, do not seem to know your place very well. I begin to wonder if you even realize how far off of your turf you have stepped to be raising your hackles at me in such a way…"

"You think you scare me?" the Wolf asked with a bark of laughter, "You think you're so high and mighty? You won't even show your face! And this is my turf! My land! I rule the wyldwood! Everything in it fears me!"

"Then you do not know everything that lurks in the shadows, whelp," the voice murmured, and suddenly the eyes rose higher, towering above the Wolf, who felt a chill strike his heart as he stared up into those bloody eyes, watching the demonic vertical slits narrowing even more until there mere lines of jet black on crimson red. "Perhaps I should educate you in such matters…"

The shadow had moved, a menacing ripple of darkness that had the Wolf suddenly cringing back as the vermillion eyes stared down at him from nearly eight feet in the air, and as the Wolf had continued to gape up at those soulless eyes, a shape had taken form around them. First a face, forming out of pure shadow to form a solid, pitch black mask, and ears had risen from that mask, as straightly pointed and erect as the devil's horns. A body had also formed, more shadows molding together, forming long, slender limbs that rippled subtly with every movement, hinting at an aged and deadly strength, and a snake-like tail, swishing idly to and fro as the enormous outline of the beast moved towards him. A moment later, he found himself staring up wordlessly into the face of the largest cat he had ever seen, though, even with that realization, there was something in the emptiness of those red eyes, and the deathly silent way the feline moved to loom over him that didn't permit him to register that this great beast was nothing more than an oversized pussy cat.

"Now, whelp," the great feline had purred softly, lowering its head towards the Wolf, vermillion eyes glowing with hellish red fire, "Before I lose my patience with you, you would do very well to turn and leave this place…and remember that you are not all who you claim to be. You are a whelp, an oversized mongrel that takes joy in tormenting the overactive minds of the mortals and turning it into your imagined power. You were born from the mind of man, and you will always rely on their mind to keep you alive…when they forget, you will die, and what will be remembered of you then?"

The eyes narrowed to red slits.

"They will remember nothing," the beast hissed softly, and the Wolf felt cold fear strike at his heart, rendering him immobile. "Not your travels or your kills, nor your name. You will become a vague remembrance of something long past. A fairy tale long forgotten…"

The cat had circled him slowly, vermillion eyes piercing into him like a thousand spears, and though the Wolf had held his ground, it had been only been because he was too frozen in fear to move, or even cower.

"Be gone from here, whelp," the feline murmured at last, coming back around in front of him, a solid shadow come to life from the darkness, "And do not forget your pettiness. You may act fearless, but you can die, just as anyone else can, and you fear death. You fear the inevitable and the unknown…and that is why you enjoy invoking such feelings in the mortals, so you are not alone in your fear. But understand, pup, so long as you continue in this way, you will always be alone, and you shall die alone, and no one will remember you…"

And, just like that, the great cat had vanished into the night, taking the stag with it, as insubstantial as mist, leaving no trace behind, not even a scent. Just a memory…

The Wolf had hoped to himself that would have been the last time he'd ever see the shadow cat ever again, and after a few long weeks with just the memory of the encounter, he had finally convinced himself that he'd managed to let some bogey get the better of him out in the Briars and shaken the whole thing off as a lousy joke. He'd done his usual thing, building more and more popularity among the humans as the nightmare of the centuries. He had particularly enjoyed hearing the one story they had managed to come up with after he had successfully terrified a village girl during her travels to her grandmother's, which had consisted of him devouring the little girl, _and _her grandmother, and then somehow managing to get cut open by a brave ax-man who had come in time to rescue the little girl and old woman. Of course, he had spent a great deal of time laughing over the absurdity of the whole thing, not only because he would never lower himself to eating humans—the fey only knew what that would do to his digestion—but just having to sit there and picture a burly human male coming in, swinging a flimsy metal ax, and hoping to gut him to rescue the devoured females was absolutely ludicrous.

The humans never ceased to astound him, and over the decades he'd grown even more in their tales until he was almost a constant participant in many of the nightmarish tales that the adults passed along to their children throughout the generations. The only other story he had thought more ludicrous than the one the humans had eventually titled "Little Red Riding Hood" was of his imagined encounters with a trio of piglets and spending his time blowing their houses down before getting himself boiled in hot water climbing down the chimney of the third pig's house. That story had irked him more than amused him, and he'd spent a good amount of time the next few years among the villages of the humans, terrorizing them just for some kind of recompense for their stupidity. Of course, he had eventually gotten himself a little bit of hot water with both Oberon and Mab when they had finally appeared to grow tired of him stealing all the spotlight for himself when they were supposedly meant to be the big shots and place holders in the mortals' fairy tales.

They had called him out, demanding his presence during a counsel between the two leaders, and he had begrudgingly answered the call, figuring that negligence to do so would more than likely result in the two ganging up on him, and though he didn't particularly fear either of them, even when put together against a single entity, he would sooner have saved himself the trouble of getting zapped with lightning or frozen from his hindquarters down. He had come to meet them in the wyldwood, as they had agreed to meet him in the neutral territory between both of their lands, and he had visited them there, though he'd been more than annoyed that they had chosen to call him out during the day, but it was under their terms, so he couldn't complain. He had shown up, as was requested, to find the two rulers already there, awaiting his arrival, and standing at quite a distance from each other, as though afraid if they stood too close they might just cause the wyldwood to burst into flames around them. Mab had been seated on a nearby stump, legs folded regally, her pitch black eyes gazing sightlessly off into the distance, and Oberon had been leaning against a tree further off from his rival, arms folded over his chest, his vivid green eyes attentive on the sky, as though he were trying his hand at reading the stars, though in the morning time it would have been quite the feat to accomplish.

"My Lord and Lady," the Wolf rumbled as he slunk into the clearing, his broad shoulders snapping off ferns as he pushed his way into the open, his yellow-green eyes glinting as he watched both leaders turn immediately to look at him. "I apologize for keeping you waiting."

"Hmph," Mab said, turning her nose up, looking disdainfully at him, though he felt satisfied to see a glimmer of fear go through her black eyes as she glanced over towards Oberon, who wore a rather wary expression, but was otherwise fearless as he turned to address the Wolf.

"I thank you for coming," he said in his low, rumbling voice, and the Wolf bowed his head. "We were not sure at first you would make an appearance."

"I would not have been so rude as to deny my Lord and Lady an audience," the Wolf growled back, noting how Mab's eyes flashed indignantly as she turned to glare at him.

"Tch," she snorted, assessing the Wolf with a malevolent stare, "He was right after all, it seems, the whelp has absolutely no care of how he speaks to his superiors."

The Wolf had been not only insulted by the words the Ice Queen spoke, but confused as he had assumed at first she was speaking of Oberon, though why she would deem it necessary to use a third-person reference while the Summer King stood just to her left, but then Oberon had turned to her with a weary sigh and murmured,

"It would most certainly seem so, though I had hoped he was merely over exaggerating the issue."

"You would be mistaken to consider that I ever over exaggerate anything of the sort, Oberon," a low voice had murmured then, speaking from behind the Wolf, who had been curiously looking between Oberon and Mab as they spoke. "As you are well aware after our many encounters, I do not make a habit of spreading idle gossip, or making a large ruckus about things that are of little consequence such as this. I merely thought you and Mab out to see for yourselves the impudence the whelp boasts as he makes his title."

The Wolf wheeled around, snarling in alarmed recognition at the voice coming from just at his six o'clock, and felt a jolt of cold fear strike into his heart as he found himself faced with the nightmarish vermillion eyes of the shadow cat as it sat not even four feet from him, huge and impressive, oozing power, and darkening the very area around him so no sunlight dared to shed its light where he sat with his long tail curled neatly over his enormous paws.

"You!" the Wolf growled, baring his teeth.

The shadow cat blinked his blood red eyes lazily, looking unperturbed as he gazed down at the bristling canine in front of him, and merely twitched the tip of his tail in evident annoyance.

"My Lord Wrath," Oberon greeted the feline, who flicked his eyes away from the Wolf to look straight at the Summer King, who was bowing regally. "I apologize if my words offered offense to you. I had merely hoped that this issue was not quite as dire as it was being made out to be. I had trouble really accepting that such a whelp could be the cause of such uproar in the mortal world."

"It is an unfortunate thing," agreed Wrath in his low, purring voice, lowering his gaze slowly back to the Wolf, who was now staring up at him in a mixture of shock and horrified recognition. "But even the most meekly of our world can bring quite a stir among the mortals."

The Wolf felt a twinge of fury ignite in his belly at the word 'meekly' and let loose a guttural snarl that any lesser being would have fled at, but Wrath continued to sit idly in his conjured darkness, watching through hooded crimson eyes, looking somewhat amused.

"You dare to speak to me like I am some worm beneath your foot?!" the Wolf growled at the cat, advancing towards him, though in the pit of his stomach, he felt his guts turning over and over.

He had heard of this cat, now having heard his name, the great beast named Morningstar's Wrath, a legendary creature that had walked the earth since before the Morningstar himself had been cast out by the Creator, and then had walked with the fallen star in his weary travels across the earth until his descent into his kingdom in the Underworld. He had been told such stories by many he encountered when he was just new to the world, who spoke in terrified whispers of the monster that had aided the Morningstar, therefore earning his name, and his powers, bequeathed to him by the Morningstar himself. But he had never really believed them. Of course, he supposed he should have been wise enough to know—even in his youth—just how disbelief could lead one to despair. After all, it was disbelief that he and other fey feared among anything else in their world and the Mortal Realm, because it was such disbelief that robbed them of their life until they faded into nothing. But apparently disbelief was not something that could so easily affect Morningstar's Wrath, as was evidence by how tall he stood, and how much power he radiated as he gazed down dismissively at the Wolf.

This was no weak, aged fey robbed of his life and power by the mortal's unfaith in him, this was a great, prowling shadow, the master of his world, and though the Wolf might entertain the idea that he could take down the cat without so much as a hitch, anyone else who looked between them would have known it was a fool's venture to attempt such a thing. Even Oberon and Mab, the greatest of the fey world, would never have been foolhardy enough to cross Wrath, for he was old, much older than them, and he had survived when man's imagination had not even been an existing thing. He did not need mortal belief or fairy tales to sustain him, he could outlive them all, and he probably would. Even human weapons, the dreaded touch of iron, could not harm him, as he had been given protection by the Morningstar from such petty human devices. And it was because of that that made him a true immortal.

And it was because of that that Oberon and Mab feared him.

But the Wolf did not know fear. Why should he fear this oversized cat? It was just a cat…

"I asked you a question, cat," snarled the Wolf, and behind him Oberon caught his breath while Mab's eyes widened. "Do you think I am so beneath you that you can get away with calling me such an insulting thing as 'meek'?"

"I do not think," Wrath purred softly, his crimson eyes narrowing to slits, "I merely state what I know. And what I know is that you are a pup, so swelled with the power mortals have given you that you think everyone else beneath you. Though I educated you in the ways that you will not survive while man continues to dream, for there will come a time when they begin to forget you, it seems you have been too busy building your title to have heeded me."

"I do not need to listen to the idle prattling of a has been housecat!" barked the Wolf, lifting his head high, drawing himself up to a towering six feet, though Wrath still dwarfed him in size. "You played house pet for that fallen wretch when he came here, and look where it's left you! No one remembers who you are outside of the Nevernever, and even those who remember you do not believe you truly exist! And you dare to lecture me on how I will be forgotten!"

"Stop him," Oberon murmured to Mab as the Wolf bristled with rage as he advanced on Wrath, "Before he gets himself killed…As a servant of your territory—"

"It would serve him right," Mab retorted icily, turning her nose up, unbothered. "If the whelp cannot keep his place or be taught it, what good is he here? Even we understand the dangers of the mortal mind if we are to be forgotten, and if he cannot then it is his own loss. He should be grateful Lord Wrath even paused to teach him such a lesson if he could not already be bothered to learn it himself."

Oberon shot the Ice Queen a look of censure for her tactlessness and the unconcern for one of her own, but knew she would not a hear another word, and merely sighed remorsefully as he looked back towards where the Wolf was now crouching before Wrath, hackles raised, fangs bared.

And Wrath continued to sit there, tail folded over his paws; eyes narrowed, bloody slits, and watched, contemplating.

"I would consider standing down, pup," he murmured at last as the Wolf braced himself, body going still right as he prepared to make the final lunge. "I will not guarantee your life if you choose to engage with me… You are way out of your league…"

"You think can kill me?" snarled the Wolf furiously, yellow-green eyes blazing with hate.

"Again, I do not think," purred Wrath, "I merely know."

With a howl of fury the Wolf lunged forward, striking off from the ground with powerful hind paws launching him through the air at his opponent, claws and teeth extended, ready to sink into flesh, but a split second before he could land on Wrath the great cat vanished from sight, leaving only a flurry of shadows. The Wolf landed in the midst of the torrent of blackness, snarling and swiping at anything that moved, furious, hateful, burning with the need to make Wrath understand just who he had insulted.

"Pathetic," a voice murmured behind him, and he turned, fast as lightning, but Wrath was faster, and as the Wolf rounded on the Devil's Cat, a forepaw came raking down across his flank, gouging deep wounds that spattered blood onto the forest floor.

The Wolf howled in agony and even greater anger and took a flying leap towards Wrath, who crouched just before him, unsheathed claws stained red with blood. Wrath slithered out of the way just as the Wolf brought his head down, angling his teeth towards the cat's throat, and lashed out again, striking a blow across the Wolf's face that sent him reeling into a tree, which cracked and groaned as the Wolf slammed into it hard enough to snap his ribs. He crumpled to the ground, gasping in pain, but quickly staggered back upright as Wrath's shadow loomed over him, merciless vermillion eyes glinting.

With another vicious howl the Wolf attacked, angling low, trying to knock the cat's paws out from beneath him, but Wrath merely leapt into the air, straight up, and slammed back down with relentless force on the Wolf's back, claws digging in and pinning the canine to the leafy forest floor. The Wolf felt his spine creak with the pressure being exerted by the Cat's forepaws, and snarled defiantly, attempting to roll to dislodge his attacker, but Wrath, with his much bigger size, braced his hind legs against solid ground, and kept a firm grip on the Wolf so that no matter how he twisted and writhed, he couldn't shake off the Cait Sith.

"Yield," Wrath growled in his ear, and the Wolf spat hatefully on the ground.

"Never!" he roared, and with all his strength surged to his paws. Wrath disengaged and pranced lightly back, vermillion eyes glowing with annoyance as he watched the Wolf stagger to face him, bleeding heavily from his torn flank, and favoring his right side to ease the jolting anguish in his ribs.

Turning on the Cait Sith, the Wolf snarled, baring bloodied fangs, "I will not yield to anyone!" he roared. "I am the Wolf! Mortals worship me in their fear of me! They cower at my paws and beg mercy! I will not be the one to grovel at the feet of another!"

Wrath seemed to sigh, more weary than anything else, and shook his great head.

"Ah, the God complex," he murmured, almost to himself, "To think even we fey suffer from such a despairingly _human _affliction…"

The Wolf snarled. "Are you listening to me, cat?!"

"I am listening," Wrath replied plaintively, lifting one massive paw to lick slowly at the blood coating his fur, "But that does not mean I have any interest in _hearing _you, pup. Mab"—he shot a glance towards the Ice Queen, who seemed to straighten under his piercing gaze—"as much as I am sure you would sooner permit this foolish whelp to die here as a result of our skirmish, I ask you to tend to his injuries that he might not become a nuisance to anyone else as far as begging for food is concerned. In that state he will be unfit to hunt until he is properly treated."

"I need no treatment!" the Wolf spat, taking a menacing step forward, fighting back the surge of agony that tore through him as he leaned weight on his shattered right side. "You think I am so weak that I cannot put you out of my misery as I am?"

"You insist on suggesting that I think anything," Wrath sighed, turning a bored crimson gaze back onto the Wolf as he continued to idly groom his blood coated paw. "I have already told you several times, but I will tell you once more, I do not _think_, whelp, I merely know. You can barely stand as you are, and if you consider another attempt to attack me I can say with total certainty that you will not be able to walk or even limp away. You will remain on the ground, bleeding and broken, until Lady Mab decides to take mercy on you, and I cannot guarantee that she will do that…"

"I do not need her _mercy_," sneered the Wolf, "And do not think I will let you run scared by trying to make me think I am too injured to fight you!"

"Then I will not think," murmured Wrath, lowering his paw and fixing the Wolf with a look that sent a tremor of pure fear down the massive canine's back, "And I will not give you my mercy, either…Consider if you truly wish to engage me again, and once you have made that decision, if it be the one to end you, pray the Creator gives you swift deliverance."

The Wolf hesitated for the briefest of moments, just enough time for him to feel his great heart give an enormous thump, and then he gave a strangled howl and launched himself at Wrath, ignoring the bursting pain in his side. Claws outstretched, fangs bared, he barreled towards his enemy, red flooding his vision as those crimson eyes gaze back at him…

He had never made it to Wrath, as the Cait Sith had come to meet him halfway, taking a flying leap and hitting him straight in the chest, claws out, a venomous hiss rising from his throat, and the Wolf had been sent careening backwards, flying through the air, limp and useless as a rag doll, and with a final crunching and yelp he hit a great oak, shattering his left side all the way from forepaw to hindquarters, and dropping to the forest floor in a bloodied, broken heap, his vision already spotting with black as he lay there, panting and whimpering. A shadow loomed in front of him, pitch black, blocking out all rays of sunlight, and a pair of luminous, soulless red eyes drew level with his, the vertical pupils mere lines in the bloodied iris.

"Feel favored, whelp," a disembodied voice murmured quietly, a rumble of power, stirring the very air around them, "I permit you to live, in recognition of your willpower, if nothing else. But this permission comes with a price. In exchange for this allowance, should you manage to survive your wounds, you shall owe me a debt. Anything that I ask shall be given to me without restriction, at any time I deign to call upon it. If you do not wish to owe this debt, then lie here and die quietly, otherwise, be prepared for the moment when I return to collect this debt. Be it a day or a decade, that time shall come. Let us hope by then that you have learned your rightful place so I am not required to expend good time and energy dispatching you for the sake of the rest of the Nevernever."

The voice was echoing, like it spoke from the end of a great tunnel, as the fringe of black around the Wolf's vision finally closed in around him, blocking out any and all sights and sounds, and he sank into unconsciousness. He didn't know how long he had remained in that comatose state, only that when he had finally awoken he had been resting near a lake, bandaged and treated, and Mab had been standing at the edge of the great lake, staring out over it, and when he had managed to rouse himself enough to ask where he was, why she was there, and where Wrath had gone she had been silent a moment before turning to him, her pitch black eyes like chips of ice in her pale face.

"Where Lord Wrath has gone is no concern of yours," she had informed him in a voice that held all the ice and cold of winter in it, "And you would do well never to look for him again. And consider yourself very lucky that he permitted you to live. Only hope that if the time comes when he demands his favor he does not make it the surrender of the life he has given you a chance to rebuild."

"You didn't say why you're still here," the Wolf had growled at her, and she had narrowed her eyes in clear disdain.

"Because Lord Wrath bid me to tend to your injuries," she said curtly.

"And you listened to the orders of a cat?" the Wolf sneered at her.

She lifted her chin defiantly, and a bitter wind blew around them, stabbing through his thick pelt to his very core so he shuddered from the unshakeable cold and looked up at the Winter Queen through narrowed yellow-green eyes as she stood before him.

"I owed Wrath a favor," she said quietly, "And have now paid it. Had I been given my way, I would have let you die where you lay. Alone, shamed, and forgotten."

After that, she had not stayed, and had vanished without so much as another word to him, leaving him to his own devices by the lake, where he had remained for nearly three days following, only hunting in the nearby woods, never going farther than a quarter mile from the water before returning. It had taken a long time for his wounds to heal, even when he had gone into Winter's territory in the hopes of speeding the recovery, and with every passing day that he was forced to endure the pain of his ribs knitting back together, and the scars on his flank stretching taught on his skin, he had remembered the vermillion eyes, and the disembodied voice of Wrath. On Mab's advice, he had not looked for the Cait Sith again, finally admitting to himself—though never to another living soul—that he never wished to face the shadow cat again.

He might have said he still did not fear the cat, but merely would like his wounds to heal and not have to go through the trouble of gaining more in battle, but that would have been a lie. Since that time, nearly five hundred years ago, he had come to fear Wrath, as all other fey in the Nevernever did. He had learned what it meant to face a true immortal, a creature who did not share the fear of being forgotten, and he had realized it was because of that difference between him that he would never be able to outmatch Wrath. Wrath controlled his own Fate, not relying on the simple dreaming of humans to sustain him, but the Wolf did, and it was that immeasurable difference between them that would always place him beneath Wrath, no matter how great he became in the legends and stories of the mortals. Though the humans had forgotten Wrath, he lived on, but when they forgot the Wolf, he would be done. At last, only when his wounds had finally faded away, and he could walk with his head up and without a limp, had he finally understood the lesson he had been so painfully taught.

Even now, prowling through the darkened forest, nearly six hundred years later, could he remember that lesson, and the pains that had come with it. The scars on his flank still remained, though his thick fur made it near impossible to discover them, but he knew they were there, a brand of his former ignorance. He had become wiser since then, and though he still haunted the nightmares of the mortals he knew better than to think they would always remember. Everything died one day, and he was no exception.

He paused, half concealed behind a great cypress tree, and his nostrils flared as he caught the scent of prey very nearby, terrified, and cornered. Something was hunting, as well, and very nearby, for a moment later he pricked his ears as the keening death cry of the unfortunate creature rent the air, before cutting off suddenly. The already silent forest thickened even more with the deathly stillness that had settled around it since he had first begun his hunt, and the Wolf felt a slight prickle of unease under his fur as he scanned the trees ahead of him, searching, his ears pricked, and his nostrils flared to take in every scent, every clue the woods had to offer. He might not be immortal, but he still ruled these parts, and the forests had never failed to tell him its secrets.

But standing there, drawing in the night scents around him, scenting the coppery tang of fresh blood on the air, he felt a chill go down his spine as he realized he could not scent anything else but the trees and the new kill. He could not scent the predator that hunted nearby him, and no matter how he strained, he could not hear the sounds of it indulging in its kill, though the blood scent grew potently stronger. No…not stronger he realized…closer…

"Six hundred years later and you still do not have the eyes or ears to find me," murmured a voice softly, speaking from behind him, and with a startled yelp and snarl he whirled around, eyes blazing, teeth bared.

The eyes came first, as they always did, vermillion red, swirling out of the darkness, flickering with the flames of hell, and the Wolf felt his blood chill as the body slowly followed, shadows come to life, molding together to form the rippling form of a feline sent from the very depths of the Underworld, and a moment later he was standing before Morningstar's Wrath as the Cait Sith solidified in front of him, a freshly killed stag lying at his paws.

"Hello, Wolf," the King of Cats greeted him quietly, dark amusement flickering in the depths of his crimson eyes as he took in the Wolf's rigid position and wide, alarmed eyes. "It has been quite a while, hasn't it?"

The Wolf snorted quietly, unfreezing and standing loosely, though he kept a wary eye on the Cait Sith as the feline sat poised before him.

"Well, if it isn't the King of Cats himself," he rumbled, shaking out his fur to dispel the icy chill that seemed to have settled beneath it against his skin. "Six hundred years and you didn't even write. This must be a special occasion if you're suddenly popping up all of the sudden, and with dinner, too."

He eyed the stag thoughtfully, briefly wondering if Wrath was just being ironic for dramatic effect by slaughtering it and bringing it along.

"I thought perhaps you might be more agreeable with a full stomach," Wrath purred, and nudged the kill forward with one massive forepaw.

"Agreeable?" The Wolf didn't move towards the offered meal, but sat eyeing it now instead of the Cait Sith, suddenly suspicious. "And what do you need me to be agreeable for? Not about to go asking for that favor of yours, are you?"

"I am glad to see your mentality has at least gained some value in the past six centuries," Wrath said, settling down onto the ground, paws tucked under him, and the Wolf's yellow-green eyes flashed up in surprise. "Before I would have imagined you would believe my sudden appearance to be due to a sudden desire to battle you again."

The Wolf snorted, still giving the King of Cats a wary looking over. "You wouldn't have waited six hundred years if that's what you wanted," he grumbled, taking a slow step forward and lowering his head to sniff experimentally at the stag, feeling his mouth water as the scent of meat hit his senses like a solid punch. "Besides, you never did specify when you wanted your damned favor."

"At least you managed to remember you owed it to me," Wrath observed, watching with barely disguised amusement as the Wolf nudged the dead stag with a forepaw. "And I assure you, the stag is quite dead."

"I don't doubt it," the Wolf muttered, bending to sniff it again, "You tore the poor creature's throat clean out."

Wrath gave a short purr of amusement, and the Wolf gave a low grunt before finally crouching down and tearing into the meat with an almost savage ferocity, though, with Wrath's eyes on him, he didn't quite go as animalistic as he might have otherwise if he were dining alone.

"So," he said through tearing mouthfuls of meat, "What is it you want? Is it seriously that favor?"

"It is," Wrath agreed quietly, and the Wolf felt immediate interest as he glanced up through narrowed yellow-green eyes at the Cait Sith, who continued to lay with his paws tucked neatly under him, his tail moving in a lazy to-and-fro motion across the ground.

"Hmm," the Wolf hummed, straightening up and licking along his muzzle, clearing away blood. "How interesting…Six hundred years and you finally figured out what you want from me? I've got to hear this. Though, to be honest, I'm a little annoyed it took so damn long. I feel like they should start putting expiration dates on these favors people call out. You wait a thousand years to call one in and the poor bastard that owed it to you might have kicked the bucket by that point if he isn't worth his name."

"Though you were a pitiful whelp the last time I saw you," Wrath said in his low voice, twitching one ear as a bird fluttered overheard nearby, "I did not imagine you would be so prone to dying off within the next millennia. Not after all the time you took to go around making a name for yourself among the humans."

"Is that a compliment I hear?" the Wolf asked, his nose twitching in amusement. "You really thought I'd make it this far? Why, Wrath, I'm touched."

"Though it seems after six hundred years you still cannot remember I do not think," Wrath sighed, giving the Wolf a rather exasperated look, "I only know. Pitiful you might have been, but you were too stubborn to die, even if a thousand years had come to pass. You would merely have gone up to the Mortal Realm time and time again to terrorize them into remembering you. That much is common knowledge."

"Fine, then," snorted the Wolf, rolling his eyes towards the stars, "You just know, then. I'll make a little note of that for safe keeping. Lord Wrath knows. Period."

Wrath gave a delicate snort and flicked his tail.

"Well, then," sighed the Wolf, hunkering down on his haunches and bending his head to bite furiously at a sudden itch on his forepaw, "Let's get on with it then. You want your favor, alright, but I've got one thing to say on the matter."

"Oh?" Wrath pricked his ears forward, looking amused. "And what would you say to me, Wolf?"

"Oh, he's not even calling me 'whelp' or 'pup' anymore," the Wolf said in mock amazement, grinning a toothy smile. "This must really be important if he's pulling out all the stops."

"I hope you understand how foolish you look when you speak to no one, no matter how greatly it might entertain you," Wrath informed him coolly.

The Wolf gave a rasping cough of canine laughter.

"You know, you're really not all that scary when you're not trying to kill me," he observed, giving Wrath a slow once over. "I guess that comes with you trying to stay on my good side for this favor."

"I do not need to be on your good side for anything, Wolf," Wrath replied, "That is, if we are ignoring the fact that you do not _have _a good side."

"Ooh, that was a little harsh," said the Wolf in a low rumble, now scratching furiously behind his ear. That incessant chill was still tingling under his fur, and it wouldn't go away.

"That was the truth," said Wrath dismissively, flicking his tail. "Now, will you sit quietly and listen to my favor or are you going to continue interrupting me through the rest of the night?"

"You seem in an awful hurry to get this favor done, Wrath," said the Wolf with a critical look thrown over at the King of Cats. "What's up? Got the six hundred year itch?"

Wrath did not answer this time and merely sat there, vermillion eyes narrowed, tail tip flicking impatiently back and forth, watching the Wolf until the canine thought his fur might just burn right off of him for all the fire blazing in those crimson orbs staring at him. Finally, as the silence continued to stretch, and he could feel the prickling under his fur grow more and more pronounced, he finally heaved an enormous sigh and hunkered down to the ground, looking tiredly up at Wrath.

"What do you want, Wrath?" he asked quietly, narrowing his yellow-green eyes. "If you'd been given your way, you probably wouldn't have come looking for me for another thousand years."

"You are right," murmured Wrath, "I wouldn't have, but what I want is irrelevant."

"Then what do you need?" asked the Wolf even more softly than before.

"Your strength," said Wrath softly, "And your skills in combat, put to good use."

"Good use, is it?" The Wolf fixed Wrath with a skeptical look. "More good than my terrorizing humans and hunting, then? What kind of good did you have in mind?"

"As a guard," murmured Wrath, and the Wolf pricked his ear, immediately interested.

"You need a body guard?" he asked, slightly disbelieving as he took in Wrath's immense size, feeling the slightest of shivers run down his spine as he watched the shadows shimmer and undulate around the Cat King.

"Not for myself," murmured Wrath, "For another. A newcomer."

The Wolf cocked his head to one side, even more interested and confused than before. "A newcomer?" he repeated softly. "A newborn?"

"No," said Wrath, shaking his head and the Wolf snorted in bewilderment. "Well, perhaps you could call this person a newborn, as they are young by our standards."

"Define young, then, because you're getting me turned eight different directions with all this cryptic bullshit," growled the Wolf.

"Not yet twenty," murmured Wrath, and the Wolf gave a yelp of shock.

"That's a baby!" he said, astounded. "Why are you sending me to go guard an infant of all things?"

"Only an infant by our standards," Wrath said calmly, "But nearly a woman by mortal limitations."

"A mortal, are you kidding me?" growled the Wolf, pushing himself to his paws, glaring at Wrath. "A mortal in the Nevernever and you expect me to go watch it?"

"Half mortal," murmured Wrath, and the Wolf's eyes bulged. "I expect you to go guard a half mortal."

"And what the hell for?" demanded the Wolf, growling again.

"Because that is your debt to me," said the Cait Sith in a low purr of menace, setting the shadows around them skittering with life, some rushing away in terror, and others closing in around the two congregated fey, darkening the area around them until even the stars couldn't shine.

"Nothing doing, Wrath," the Wolf snarled, in spite of the fear crawling like a living thing under his skin. "If I'm going to go playing tag-along with a half breed, I'd like to have a damn good reason why."

"Perhaps I was wrong to say you had matured in six hundred years," murmured Wrath quietly. "You still question the orders given to you. You put yourself in my debt when I permitted you to live and you did not take the chance to die. The debt you owe me is whatever I might ask of you. If you do not take up this debt to pay me back what is owed to me, then I will ask instead that you forfeit your life entirely and vanish. If you will not make yourself useful, I have no purpose in keeping you alive."

"You mean to tell me you let me live for six hundred years to go babysit a half breed?" demanded the Wolf, outraged.

"If that had been my venture then, it would have already been taken care of," said Wrath, "And you are foolish to think I waited six hundred years for a single half blood. Her human ancestor was not even in the beginnings of his or her life when you were put into my debt."

"So what the hell is this for?" asked the Wolf, almost snarling now, glaring down at Wrath through burning yellow-green eyes. "You said she's isn't even twenty, so why wait even that long in human terms to call me up?"

"Because until now it was not my concern," said Wrath patiently.

"And what made it your concern?" the Wolf asked in a low rumble.

"She came here," Wrath answered simply, curtly.

The Wolf did not ask anything else; he could see in Wrath's eyes that if he did he would only be met with stony silence. The King was finished answering his questions, and he was waiting for the Wolf to either agree to the terms of this payment of his debt, or if he would offer his life in place of being a guard for this pathetic little half blood. Though why Wrath cared why this particular half blood had made it into the Nevernever was beyond him. Many half bloods had come and gone in the past centuries, and all of them without Wrath's notice or care. So why was this new half blood, whoever she was, suddenly so important?

"Is she royalty?" he dared to ask, though he couldn't be guaranteed Wrath would answer him.

The Cait Sith offered a surprise though, as he blinked his narrowed vermillion eyes and murmured,

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Oh, goody, so it was a blue blooded half blood. His night just kept getting better and better.

"And where is she now, if you're hoping for me to find her?" he growled irritably, settling back on his haunches and glaring at Wrath.

"Resting in Arcadia at the moment," Wrath informed him, to which the Wolf stared in amazement.

"Then why the hell—?!" he began furiously, on his paws again, but Wrath hissed softly and the Wolf froze.

"Before you go so far as to say she is perfectly safe where she is currently," Wrath murmured in a low voice, "Be aware that at dawn tomorrow she and her companions will be departing from Oberon's keep to venture to the Briars."

"Your place?" The Wolf snorted in disbelief. "Why the hell are they going there?"

"Because her group is looking for me," Wrath answered quietly.

"Why?" the Wolf demanded.

"The same reason anyone would risk life and limb to come so far across the Nevernever," said Wrath softly, "They seek answers. You remember well your recent venture with the now exiled Winter Prince, Ash. He sought answers in his journeys, though it nearly killed him to make the venture to the End of the World and back again in favor of the Iron Queen. This is no different, especially considering that Prince Ash will be assisting them by supplying a pair of Iron knights to help them along."

"Then why do you need me to go after them?" the Wolf asked, bemused. "Or are you telling me that you need me to protect _you _and get rid of _her_? Because I was pretty sure you were just telling me the opposite a few moments ago."

"I need you to protect her," Wrath said. "I do not trust the others to do a fair enough job. But you are not to reveal yourself. Merely aid her from the shadows, as you have done in the past with few others."

"Alright, fine," growled the Wolf, "And how long am I doing this job?"

"Until she is able to remain safe from all harm without your help," Wrath replied.

"That could be centuries!" exclaimed the Wolf, outraged.

"Then so be it," answered the Cait Sith, unperturbed, fixing the Wolf with a piercing glare that immediately silenced the canine when he would have argued, "She is valuable to this world. She already has Oberon's protection, but that will not be anywhere near enough. Though you may consider it a tedious chore unbefitting of your higher station, understand that I am asking you to guard a noble woman. Half blooded she may be, but her blood is just as precious as any heir either Mab or Oberon could ever hope to bring to this world."

The Wolf watched Wrath for a very long moment, contemplating over everything he was hearing and had been told and after nearly a full minute in stony silence, merely looking at the Cait Sith as he looked back through narrowed, blood red eyes, the Wolf heaved a deep sigh and hung his head.

"Very well, Wrath, you will have your favor," he grumbled.

"Say the words, Wolf," murmured Wrath, his eyes mere slits now. "So I know you will not dare to turn this to your advantage."

The Wolf lifted his head, meeting Wrath's penetrating crimson stare, and, straightening even further, drawing himself to his full height, he said in a low but carrying voice, "I, Son of the First Wolf, swear to you, Morningstar's Wrath, that by my True Name and all I hold in reverence, that I will fulfill my debt to you, and watch over the girl, and see that she never comes to harm, and to lead her in safety along the paths she travels, until the day in which she can be without my protection comes. Until that day, and no sooner, will I stand by her side."

The air crackled around them, and the Wolf felt a vaguely familiar jolt in his gut, making him feel like he might just retch, and Wrath bowed his head, his vermillion eyes closing for a long moment, as the shadows around them writhed in answer to the oath offered.

"It is done, then," Wrath murmured, and slowly rose to his paws as the tension in the air dissipated as rapidly as it had come, leaving the Wolf feeling a little stoned, but otherwise fine.

He hated making oaths…he'd had to do it once before to Mab, when she'd sent him to watch over Ash during that damned venture to the End of the World. It was never pleasant when the oath was made, but at least the gut feeling went away rather quickly, unless, of course, he tried to veer away from fulfilling said oath, and then it was just about as bad as having a dragon breathing fire straight into ones innards.

"So, I'll look out for her," the Wolf rumbled, shaking off the momentary nausea. "For as long as it takes…"

"Good," said Wrath, beginning to turn away, his tail swishing languidly behind him.

"Though there is a slight issue," the Wolf called after him, causing the Cait Sith to pause and swivel an ear around to listen. "You have asked that I guide her down the right paths, as a guide, but you seem like you don't quite want her to find you in the Briars. So, if it comes to whether I lead her to you or not, what do you recommend I do?"

"Exactly as I have told you to," said Wrath softly, beginning to pad away on silent paws. "You may look all you wish, even if she wishes it, but I have no intention of being found."

"You seem pretty certain that you won't be found," observed the Wolf, "Though the other thing I'm wondering is what she wants to find you for in the first place. Not just for answers, but the real reason. Why is finding you so important?"

Wrath did not answer, and when the Wolf was about to repeat himself, just to ensure the Cait Sith had heard him, there was a rustle of shadows, and Wrath vanished from sight, leaving the Wolf alone in the center of the wyldwood. Almost immediately after the King's departure, a resounding buzz of night sounds assaulted the Wolf's ears as all the creatures around him that had kept their silence in Wrath's presence came back to life, whirling through the night with howls and whoops and screeches, until all the noise grated on his already frayed nerves. Growling furiously and baring his teeth as a bogey peered curiously at him from behind one of the nearby trees, he turned abruptly and began to stalk off towards the east, cursing all things existing under his breath as he turned his senses towards Arcadia.

"Cats," he groused to himself, trotting silently through the undergrowth, startling a pair of piskies as he shouldered his way through the berry bush they were assaulting, "Never give you a straight answer…"

He should have expected it, really, at least coming from Wrath. Six hundred years later and nothing about the Cait Sith had changed, though that was not at all a surprise. He might not have had the pleasure of seeing the bastard for six centuries, but word got around in the Nevernever. Wrath might not be the legend the Wolf currently was, but you could always find whispers about him if you knew where to look.

Now, though, the Wolf had a new destination, and a new place to look. Arcadia, Oberon's little gaudy ornament of a kingdom. Just the place for a noble lady of half human descent, especially considering Oberon seemed to keep making a habit of fathering half bloods. Though, now that he thought about it, Wrath had never said the half blood was of Oberon's blood. Just that she was in Oberon's kingdom. So…if he ended up discovering the half blood wasn't Oberon's newest whelp, just who would it belong to? And who else could have sired nobility? It really shouldn't have bugged him to find out, but considering this Wrath asking him to do such a thing as protect an infant of a half blood he felt he had a right to be curious. Wrath didn't go out of his way to get protection for just anyone, even if it was a noble. Wrath hated the nobility, if truth be told, even if he was considered part of them. He had no real respect for Mab or Oberon, though he at least made a good show of being courteous around them, so why bother himself with getting the Wolf to go protect some prissy little blue blooded half blood?

"This ought to be an interesting adventure," he growled to himself, slinking through the trees, hopping a stream, and breaking into a quick lope as he saw the sky ahead of him turning a light indigo color as the rising sun began to break through the darkness of night. He just hoped this adventure didn't end up making him regret not kicking off six centuries ago, or he might just take Wrath up on his other offer.


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey, everyone. Sorry for the lateness. There was just a lot to be done last week that didn't include updating, and for those of you who feared the worst, have no fear any longer! I shall continue updating until my brain simply goes out on me and I have nothing left to update! Which shouldn't happen for quite some time, I hope. So, enjoy this chapter, and the next one that I have updated as well to make up for a week without Winter's Wrath. :)**

Morning…why did it have to be morning? It shouldn't be morning yet. Morning didn't come this early…and whoever was poking her in the side was going to lose a finger in a minute if they didn't keep their grubby paws to themselves.

"Nikki," a voice murmured in her ear, low, insistent. "Nikki, wake up…"

She groaned, throwing herself onto her stomach and covering her head tiredly with her arms, cinching her eyes tightly shut, wishing the voice away, pretending she couldn't hear them, or feel their finger jabbing into her spine as they continue to poke with irritating persistence at her back.

"Up," sang the voice softly, and the finger poked into the space between her shoulder blades, "Up, up, up. Big day today."

"Nooooo," she moaned, groping around for a pillow, and yanking it over her head when she'd found it.

"Yes," the voice sighed, and the pillow was ripped from her hands, leaving her to moan and pull the blankets high up over her head.

"Fuck off," she muttered.

"Oh, now that isn't very sunshiney and happy," said the voice with a small 'tsk' of disapproval, "And not at all lady-like. Come on, wake up and be happy. Shining is optional, but rising is mandatory. Come on."

"Go'way," she whined as the finger at her back finally let up, only to enable the person jabbing at her to seize the blankets with both hands and proceed to tug on them, trying to take them from her. She curled her tired fingers as tightly as she could into the thick blankets and yanked back, hearing her assailant give a resigned sigh as they released their end of the blankets and resumed their jabbing into her spine.

"Up, beautiful, come on," the voice sang, speaking very close to her ear, and she muttered unintelligibly as something warm nuzzled her cheek. "We've got hunting to do today and possibly not enough hours in the day to do it in. Come on."

"No…!" she whimpered, rolling away from the voice, curling into a tight ball on her side and burrowing under the covers as deep as she could go. "Too early…"

"Oh, pah," snorted the voice, "No such thing, beautiful. Now, come on, I'll give you three seconds to push those covers down and show me your lovely face before I take drastic measures."

She grumbled under her breath, snuggling more comfortably into the covers, and heard the person nearby heave a sigh of resignation.

"Well," it said, and the mattress shifted slightly as they apparently moved, "You've given me no choice in the matter, beautiful. Prepare to be thoroughly awakened."

She muttered again, not really hearing the words being spoken, and gave a small sigh of contentment as the person shifted off the bed, and silence fell. Though in the back of her mind she should have known it was too good to last. As suddenly as it had gotten quiet, the silence was shattered as a loud whoop rang out, and something suddenly set the mattress bouncing sporadically, sending her flying straight up into the air.

Nikki's eyes shot open as she gave a shriek of alarm, flailing in mid-air as she was tossed up again by the violent bouncing of the bed, getting herself tangled in the bed sheets as she came tumbling back down. She threw out her arms to try and brace for a fall, but something caught her halfway back down to the mattress, and a moment later, after fighting her way furiously out of the confining bed sheets, gasping in alarm, she was staring up into Puck's grinning face as he looked down at her, his emerald eyes dancing with laughter.

"Morning, beautiful," he greeted her cheerfully, kissing her forehead as she continued to lay in his arms, shaking and gasping with terror.

"You," she stammered, too shaken to be coherent as she clutched at his bare shoulders, her brown eyes enormous, "I…am going to _kill _you…"

"Now, now, what have we talked about when you start making idle threats so early in the morning?" he asked her in a patronizing tone, still grinning as he alighted from the bed, still carrying her in his arms, and turned back to place her gently on the now totally disheveled and abused mattress. If she hadn't been so busy trying to catch her breath and thinking of a thousand different ways to murder Robin Goodfellow, she probably would have contemplated just how much it looked like they'd used the bed for something that probably would not be very greatly smiled upon in the middle of Oberon's palace.

"I am so going to kill you for that, Robin," she gasped, using one hand to clutch at her breast, while the other one reached up to where he was leaning over and circling his throat, beginning to apply firm pressure. "That…totally warrants death."

"Aw, now," he said, smiling as he lifted a hand to the one she had around his throat, gently prying her fingers loose before she could legitimately start to choke him, "It was just a little good humored wake up call, that's all. Do I really deserve death for that?"

"You bounced me off the mattress like a freaking bouncy ball," she accused him, finally getting her breath back, and tilting her head back to glare up at him through blazing chocolate brown eyes.

"No," he denied, shaking his head and beaming, "I bounced you off the mattress like a Nikki. Bouncy balls bounce much higher than you, no offense."

"You're psychotic," she said, and he winked.

"It's one of the perks of being me," he said with a small laugh, lifting her still fisted hand and pressing soft kisses to each of her knuckles. "Besides, you can't tell me you don't love me being a total and utter lunatic."

"I could," she contradicted him with a grudging smile as he batted his eyelashes at her, trying to be cute, "But it would be a lie."

Puck gave a dramatic gasp, putting a hand to his mouth, looking stunned. "A lie? You would actually tell a lie? _Never_!"

Nikki couldn't help but giggle now, the last bit of her annoyance at his choice of wake-up call finally disappearing as she looked into his sparkling emerald eyes, and with a sigh she leaned in, just close enough that their foreheads touched, and smiled when he blinked in surprise at her.

"So," she murmured, and he cocked an eyebrow, "I'm up…"

"You are," he agreed with a devious smile. "Quite up, I must say. You must have gotten at least ten feet straight up from the first bounce."

"Definitely got some air time," she conceded. "But, in any case, I am up…and you wanna know what I want to do?"

"Hmmm…" Puck gave her a slow up and down, or as much of one as he could while still keeping their foreheads together, "Would it be a stretch to guess you want to climb right back in that bed, with me, and…beat the living shit out of me with one of the pillows?"

"Nah, that's a pretty good guess," she told him with a rather wicked smile. "But that actually wasn't what I was going to say…"

"Then what _were _you going to say?" he asked, arching both fiery eyebrows at her, a playful little smirk on his lips, his emerald eyes dancing with amusement.

"That," she said slowly, narrowing her dark brown eyes at him, "I…am _really _hungry."

And, as though on a cue to back up her words, her stomach gave a vicious growl that had both of them looking down in surprise at her belly. They looked back up at each other, sat for a second, then burst out laughing as Puck leaned away, straightening up and clapping his hands together while she sat back, both hands over her stomach and grinning sheepishly.

"Wow," Puck sighed, shaking his head, looking down at her in a mixture of amazement and amusement. "Just wow…Well, then, beautiful, if you're so hungry I recommend we go raid the kitchens, what say you?"

"Think we'll get away with it?" she asked, even as he stretched out his hand to her and she took it, letting him pull her up out of the disheveled sheets and into his arms, where he squeezed her firmly and dropped another kiss on her head.

"Probably not," he said with a wink as he linked fingers with her and began to lead her over to the bedroom door, "But here's hoping, right?"

"You're going to get us in so much trouble," she laughed as he grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it open, peering out almost cautiously into the hallway as though to ensure no one would catch them on the move.

"Pah," he said dismissively, straightening up and looking back at her with a devious smile. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little trouble so soon in the morning time?"

"No," she said, shaking her head and giggling as he sneaked out into the hall, pulling her with him, and pressing themselves up against the wall outside, looking very much like a pair of wannabe spies as they both looked tentatively down the next hall. "But if we get caught, and the brownies chase us, I'm tripping you."

"Oh, now that's low," he said, laughing, drawing her around the corner and beginning to creep along the walls, still very overtly attempting to be cover with little success, though with no one to witness their early morning shenanigans she didn't particularly mind. "And what if they go and drag me back to the kitchen and lock me away for good?"

"More food for me," she said cheerfully, and he gave her such an astonished look that she had to laugh aloud. "I'm kidding, Puck, I'd come rescue you, of course."

"I would hope so," he said with an indignant sniff, turning his nose up, though the laughter that glowed in his emerald eyes told her he wasn't really upset as he continued to lead her by the hand down the halls towards the kitchens. "Besides, what fun could you have without me?"

"None at all," she said with a smirk, and he grinned hugely back at her. "It is totally impossible for me to have fun without you. Just unthinkable."

"Damn straight it's unthinkable!" he said in a rather pompous tone, pausing at another T-junction in the corridors and peering both ways before turning a sharp right, still with his fingers linked in hers, leading her along. "I am the very epitome of fun! You cannot hope to have fun without me!"

"Of course I can't," giggled Nikki, giving his hand a soft squeeze and moving a little closer to his side as they moved quickly down the hallway, not quite running but most certainly not walking anymore, so she was half jogging to keep up with him. "That would just be ludicrous, to think I would ever manage to have any kind of fun without you around ever again. I might just cry my life away."

"You mean you might just laugh your ass off if I got done in by some brownies," Puck said with a snort of laughter, glancing back at her.

"That is totally a possibility, too," she admitted, unabashed, and flashed him a cheeky grin when his eyebrows shot up.

"You are a very cruel young woman, you know that?" he asked her, the corner of his lips curving in a smirk as he turned a final corner, pulling her along, and finally skidded to a halt just outside of a large, bolted door.

Looking at the barricade, Nikki felt the great wooden door belonged more in the entrance to the dungeons of the castle rather than to a place of entrance into the castle kitchens, and glanced uncertainly at Puck as he flashed a smile at her, his emerald eyes glinting with excitement.

"You sure I want to see what's on the other side of this door, Robin?" she asked, giving the door a slow, mistrusting looking over and taking a tentative step back, though she retained possession of Puck's hand as he stood his ground.

"Probably not," he admitted with a lame shrug. "Sarah Skinflayer isn't pretty any day of the week, but she's a right sight to see when she's sleeping of all things. She snores like nothing else I've ever heard in my life, except maybe a dragon with a serious asthmatic condition."

Nikki had to snicker at that, though when Puck made to pull her forwards towards the door she purposely dug in her heels to slow his progress, and he turned back to look at her with raised eyebrows and an inquisitive expression.

"Daring I may be, my good sir," she informed him when he smirked at her, "But suicidal I am not, and I am not about to walk into the kitchen this early in the morning and risk the wrath of Sarah Skinflayer. I may not have met her, and I'm not about to ruin that streak of unfamiliarity, especially when her last name suggests she'd like nothing better than to take my hide and make it into a wall hanging."

"Aw, you scared of a little old troll?" he teased her, waggling his eyebrows when she continued to hold her ground and not budge towards the door, even when he tugged experimentally on her hand just to see if he could get her closer.

"You cannot honestly tell me that she is a small troll," she told him severely, looking very uneasily at the door, picturing a towering beast with enormous yellow tusks and a kitchen apron carrying a meat cleaver. The image was more than humorous, but she bit down her laughter just to avoid giving Puck a reason to think she wanted to in any way, shape or form enter the kitchen.

"By troll standards she is," he informed her, and she gave him a disbelieving look, her brown eyes narrowed.

"I'm not going in that kitchen, Robin Goodfellow," she informed seriously. "I rather like having my skin attached to my bone and muscles."

"Skin is so overrated, beautiful," he joked with her, flashing her a reassuring grin and turning to take both of her hands in his, gently bringing them to his chest—which she then discovered was still bare as her palms touched the defined lines of his pectorals—and tilting his head to look into her eyes, "Besides, do you really think I'd let Sarah put a hand on you?"

"No," she admitted in defeat, trying not to let her face turn too red as she felt his rapid heartbeat beneath her fingertips, or the warmth of his skin, "But I'd still rather avoid pissing off a troll."

"Wouldn't we all?" he sighed, rolling his emerald eyes, "But, my Lady is hungry, and I must oblige."

"I can wait," Nikki said feebly as he bent to kiss her palms and then stepped away towards the door.

"Pah," said Puck, waving a hand airily over his head as he turned away, reaching for the massive bronze handle on the door, "My Lady will not be made to wait for anything. Especially not breakfast, as it has been proven to be the most important meal of the day."

"Robin," she reached out, grabbing him by his shoulder just at the moment when he would have pulled the door open, but he stopped at her touch, swiveling his fiery haired head around to look curiously at her. "Don't die."

He grinned enormously, and stepped away from the door, turning around to drop his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Me, die?" he asked in amusement. "Madam, that is highly unthinkable."

"And yet I thought it," she said in an attempt at amusement, staring over his shoulder towards the suddenly very ominous kitchen door, "Weird how that works, huh?"

"Very weird indeed," he agreed with a low chortle, then spun back around to seize hold of the door. He paused, dramatically crossing himself, and throwing a wink over his shoulder at her so she couldn't help but roll her eyes in exasperation, and then, taking a deep breath, he yanked the door open, revealing a cavernous, pitch black opening, stepped inside, looked back at Nikki again with an impish smirk on his face, let out a shrieking whoop, and slammed the door just as startled grunts inside indicated the occupants of the kitchen had awoken.

Nikki stood outside the kitchen, listening to the sure sounds of chaos getting under way, hearing what sounded like several chickens give shrill squawks of alarm, followed by several more whooping sounds, a couple outraged roars, a loud banging sound that made her wince, and the deafening cacophony of pots and pans clanging down everywhere that had her retreating hurriedly from the door as another loud whoop sounded, and a second later the kitchen door slammed open to reveal Puck, grinning from ear to ear, with a basket of odds-and-ends breakfast items stuffed under his arm. He turned quickly to slam the door behind him, then, laughing like a maniac, he grabbed her hand and took off down the hall, running away from the kitchen just as the door slammed open again and something enormous let out a horrendous roar. Nikki half feared they would be pursued by whatever monstrosity had just emerged, but looking back in alarm, she saw nothing coming at them, and once they were clear of the hallway and Puck began to slow down, still laughing, she finally let a smile crack across her face as she drew to a halt beside him, leaning heavily against a wall, giggling uncontrollably as they slid down to the floor.

"You idiot!" she gasped, half giggling, half glaring, as Puck sprawled out on the floor, gasping for breath himself, the basket of food now propped up on his stomach. "What the hell did you _do_?!"

Puck laughed aloud, plucking an apple from the basket and tossing it to her so she just barely managed to catch it as the ripe red fruit flew towards her.

"Robin," she said, clutching at the apple, even as she glared down at him. "Come on, what the hell did you do?"

"Nothing too horrible," he snickered, fishing out a green apple for himself and taking an enormous bite out of it. "Just ran around the walls, grabbing anything I could, scared the living hell out of tonight's dinner and high tailed it out."

"You are totally insane," she said, laughing aloud, and taking a bite out of her own apple.

He flashed her a killer grin, his emerald eyes sparkling with laughter as he looked up at her from his slumped position on the floor.

"Well, duh," he chortled, "I am Robin freaking Goodfellow. Insane comes with the territory."

"I'll have to remember that," she said in a mock serious voice, though she was still beaming down at him. "And hand me that piece of cheese while you're at it."

Still snickering, clearly proud of himself, Puck grabbed the small lump of cheese from his basket and handed it to her. While she chewed thoughtfully on it, he heaved himself up from his slumped position on the floor, and, heaving an enormous sigh, reclined back against the wall, an arm behind his head, and his emerald eyes watching Nikki out of the edges of his peripheral vision, contemplating her as she ate.

They sat like that for a while, about ten minutes or so of silent eating, and in that time Nikki didn't notice him watching her so intently, at least not until she'd polished off both the cheese and—to his amazement—the apple, core and all, and reached over to the basket to fetch out a bundle of grapes. Only as she leaned towards him, peering down into the basket in interest, did she notice his emerald eyes watching her, and glanced over at him, a little disconcerted, to see him narrow those eyes at her, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"What are you looking at?" she demanded, a little unnerved, and trying to hide her embarrassment by seizing the grapes from the basket and scooting away along the wall, watching him speculatively out of the corner of her eyes.

"You," he said very simply, finally finishing eating his way around the apple core, which he tossed idly back into the basket, still looking at her with that almost secretive smile on his face.

"And why are you looking at me?" she muttered, plucking off a grape from the bunch and popping it in her mouth.

"Because," he said, shrugging.

"That's not an answer," she told him, giving him a look that made him chuckle in amusement.

"It is if you're me," he replied, now fishing a small loaf of bread out of the basket, breaking it in half, and taking the smaller piece for himself.

"Well, I'm not you," she reminded him coolly, "So, you should tell me why you're looking at me, and not just 'because'."

"You mean there has to be something after the 'because'?" he asked, feigning incredulity as he smirked at her.

"Yes, there does," she said, nodding firmly as she turned her dark eyes on him, "A full, complete descriptive sentence complete with nouns and adjectives, and maybe a few pronouns and verbs thrown in."

"Awww, but that's so hard," he complained, pouting at her in such a manner she was unerringly reminded of a puppy with big green eyes. Of course, no sooner had she thought of that than the image of a chipmunk came to her mind, a reminder of one of their much earlier conversations, and she had to hurriedly look away before she could smile or giggle at the imagery presented. "Can't I just say 'because I want to' and be done with it?"

"No, you can't," she said, giving him a haughty little sniff, "Because then you'd have to explain why you want to."

"You're a slave driver, you are," he said with a dramatic sigh, tearing off a piece of the bread and chewing on it as he eyed her thoughtfully. "Fine, you really want to know why I was staring at you, so totally enthralled."

"It would love to hear about it, yeah," said Nikki, casting him a critical look. "I mean, dude, you were staring at _me_. I'd like to know why it has to be _me_."

"Oh, would you rather I go stare at Trinity?" he asked jokingly, grinning at her. "Pull an Edward Cullen while she sleeps and just hover there, staring at her…like this…"

And he leaned forward, his emerald eyes enormous so he looked more like an owl than a faery, until his face was just inches from hers, their noses almost touching, and she laughed, reaching a hand forward to push him away.

"No, I don't want you to do that," she told him, snickering as he leaned back, popping the last of his bread into his mouth. "And Tri wouldn't, either. She'd probably kill you if she woke up and found you there, and I'd rather you not be dead before the end of the day."

"Oh, so it's perfectly fine if I'm dead _after _the end of the day," he said, smirking.

"You really like to twist my meaning, don't you?" she asked, giving him an amused look.

"Only when it makes it funnier," he informed her with a wry smile. "Alright, so, you don't want me dead at the end of the day, and you don't want me to go stare at Trinity, but you _do _want me to to tell you why I was staring at you, or you will probably kill me. Sound about right?"

"That's about the size of it, yeah," she agreed, rolling her brown eyes.

"Alrighty, then," he said, giving her that secretive smile yet again. "Well, ma'am, it's really quite the simple explanation when you get down to the bare mechanics of it."

"Then skip the smoke and mirrors and get down to it," she told him, cocking an eyebrow.

"My, my, no patience this morning," he said, tutting at her and shaking his head in mock despair.

"You bounced me out of bed, you don't deserve my patience," she told him with a sardonic smile.

"Fair point," he sighed, shrugging. "Right then, the bare mechanics. Well, let's see…"

He put a finger to his chin, gazing up at the ceiling in mock thoughtfulness, a fiendish glint in his emerald eyes that she didn't trust a single little bit as she watched him contemplate just how to answer her question, and probably in the most Puck-like way possible. Which meant he'd either be a pervert, or he'd run verbal circles around her until she was so dizzy she wouldn't be able to stand it.

Either way, she might as well brace herself for the inevitable. Because it was bound to be a doozy.

"Well, you see," said Puck, finally pulling himself from his pretended reverie and turning to flash his secretive smile at her, "It goes a little something like this…"

"This oughta be good," she muttered under her breath.

Puck's eyes flashed with amusement, and he snickered as he sat up a little straighter, scooting along the wall until he was right up beside her, and draped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her right up against his very bare chest so she felt her face heat with color.

"It's like this," he said again, lowering his head towards hers so he was almost speaking in her ear, his warm breath tickling her cheek, while she breathed in the unique scent of forest and fire that seemed to be radiating off of him, feeling it singe her nose, but she didn't really mind, "Remember how we talked about this guy last night? What's-his-facey?"

"I think his name was Robin," she said, and he nodded in agreement.

"I do believe you are right, ma'am," he said, and she smirked, "So, this Robin fellow—"

"He's a good fellow," she said, flashing him a humorous smile, that he returned.

"A play on words, I love it," he snickered, then continued, "This Robin fellow that we mentioned, also has a very lovely sweetheart, named Nicolette, see? And she is the most gorgeous lady he has ever set his sad little eyes on, though she doesn't really know it, not because people don't tell her—because they tell her all the time—she just doesn't think they mean it. Now, Robin wants to tell her she is the most gorgeous person he has ever seen, and not just on the outside, because it isn't the outside that counts, it's what's on the inside. You know, like when you get a piece of overly fried chicken, it's all black and crunchy on the outside, but then it's nice and juicy and succulent inside. Of course, Robin wouldn't be stupid enough to make that comparison to her, because he's not saying she's the most beautiful piece of the KFC combo bucket he's ever seen."

"Of course he isn't," said Nikki with a small smile, feeling her heart begin to accelerate a little as she leaned into him, resting her head on his strong shoulder. "That isn't at all what he's trying to say."

"No, not at all," agreed Puck with a serious nod, "What's he's trying to say is that he thinks she is this lovely, beautiful person, inside and out, and he can't help but look at her everyday just wondering how someone so completely and wholly beautiful can exist, and not only exist, but want to be near him when he always feels so damn ugly. Like, fug-pug-ugly."

Nikki couldn't help it, she burst out laughing at that, and Puck grinned enormously as he watched her fall into hysterical giggles, her face buried in her chest.

"He is not fug-pug-ugly," she said between laughs, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement as she tilted her head back to look at him, "He is not even ugly. Why does he think that?"

"Because he does," Puck said simply. "He's not very happy with his innards, you know? He doesn't think they're all that good, even if he's the sexiest beast alive on the outside."

"He is quite sexy," Nikki acknowledged with a small nod.

"How sexy?" Puck asked, glancing down at her with clear interest in his expression so she found herself having to stifle a snicker.

"Too sexy," she told him, grinning, "Too sexy for his shirt even."

Puck glanced down at his bare chest, and that fiendish smile returned in all its scheming glory.

"Quite sexy, then," he said with a sly wink, waggling his eyebrows.

"Very much so," she agreed. "But, you were saying about this Robin guy…"

"Ah, yes!" Puck grinned. "So, this Robin fellow, this sexy, good fellow, doesn't think he's all that sexy or good, and so he likes to look at Nicolette, because she embodies everything he doesn't really find in himself. She's funny, and kind, and compassionate, and she cares about her friends, she knows when to draw the line, and she knows just the right way to wrap Robin around her pinkie. But the most amazing part about her is her eyes. He can't stop staring at them. Just these gorgeous, chocolate brown eyes she has, they totally mesmerize him, and they manage to do this little thing in his chest, right where his heart is, and he just melts, you know? Every time she looks at him. And he loves it."

He smile down at her, his emerald eyes radiant, so she felt momentarily breathless, just staring up into his eyes, wondering vaguely to herself why in the world someone with eyes like his would like someone with eyes like hers. It was such a painful contrast…Bright emerald to dull brown…how did it even match up?

"You know what Nicolette thinks, though?" she asked quietly, and he tilted his head.

"What does she think?" he asked in a low voice.

"She thinks he's wrong," she told him, "About him not being beautiful inside as well as outside, and that her eyes are mesmerizing. They're just brown. She wonders why he would like such a boring color."

"Because it isn't boring," he replied gently, and a warm smile touched his face as he lifted a hand to brush back her mahogany colored hair, tucking it behind her ear so she felt a shiver run down her spine at his gentle touch. "He's never seen a color quite like it. There are these little hues of gold in it, too, and it makes him think of the trees in summer, when he's running through the wyldwood. And it's warm then, and he likes the warmth, and her eyes are always so warm when she looks at him."

"It's because he makes her feel warm, too," she confessed in a low voice, snuggling into his shoulder, dropping her eyes to where his hand was linking with hers, knitting their fingers together. "And she loves his eyes, because they make her think of emeralds, and she loves emeralds…and they're like the leaves in summer, bright green, and she can always tell when he's up to no good because it's in his eyes when he is. He gets this kind of gleam in them, and she knows he's about to do something totally crazy, and she loves it."

"There's one time when she doesn't know when he's about to do something totally crazy, though," Puck contradicted her quietly, a note of amusement in his voice.

"And when is that?" she asked, beginning to tilt her head up.

"When she isn't looking him in the eyes right before he does it," he answered, and as her eyes lifted to his, and she caught that fiery glint of mischief dancing inside the emerald depths, he dipped his head and pressed his lips softly to hers.

The world seemed to stop for a moment, and Nikki thought the ground even pitched beneath her so she swayed where she sat, only steadied as Puck slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, a shaky breath escaping him. Her hands went automatically to his shoulders, but after a moment her arms slid up to loop around his neck, pulling him even closer. The fruit basket went tumbling to the ground, spilling the contents everywhere, but neither of them noticed, locked together, feeling as though they'd just been struck by lightning. Nikki could see stars dancing behind her eyes, and tightened her hold on Puck as his lips brushed tenderly over hers, soft, and warm. His skin was hot under her fingers as she trailed them over his back, and he gave a responding shudder and murmured softly in Fey against her lips, his arm contracting around her waist, nearly crushing her to him. And she didn't mind one bit, only pressing herself closer, her fingers tunneling through his fiery red hair, feeling her heart somersault continually while her breathing became erratic, and the world spun around them, making her dizzy.

It was over too soon, as Puck, sensing she was starting to lose her ability to breathe, reluctantly moved away, his own breathing deep and unsteady as he opened his emerald eyes to stare back at her, a thousand emotions playing through his eyes as she lifted awed brown ones to gaze at him. One of her hands lost its grip in his hair, slipping down to rest over his chest, feeling his already rapid heartbeat thunder senselessly fast beneath her fingertips, and she could feel her own thudding in response, her mind still whirling with a myriad of colors of emotions and thoughts that she couldn't all make sense of, but she didn't care about making sense of it. She could feel her lips tingling from his kiss, a subtle burning that she prayed would never go away, and every nerve in her body suddenly seemed hyperactive and overwhelmed, making her feel like she might just short circuit any second if he decided to lean back for another round.

But he didn't, he merely sat there, holding her close, staring deeply into her eyes, and when he did move, it was only to rest his forehead against hers, a deep, trembling sigh passing through his half parted lips, and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment. He took several more deep breaths, seeming to be trying to calm himself, and she tried to follow his example, feeling it was probably a good idea to get her breath back before anything else happened, or before she passed out, because she was definitely feeling a little punch drunk, and she didn't want to end up clocking out right there. That'd be the saddest story in the whole world. Half human dryad girl passes out after being kissed by Robin Goodfellow. That was totally something out of a romance novel, and she wasn't about to become the swoon-prone heroine, even if she felt like she would really like nothing better than to just collapse in his arms and never move again.

"You know," Puck murmured softly, opening glowing emerald eyes to gaze back at her, "I'm thinking it was a damn good thing we were sitting down right here, because if I ever end up doing that again, and I get the same reaction, I'll probably fall flat on my ass."

She blinked up at him, not knowing what to say, and probably thinking it was better she didn't say anything at all, because in her current condition she wasn't anywhere near coherent enough to manage anything intelligent or witty or appropriate, and she really didn't want to be the one to go and ruin the moment. Of course, she thought, feeling a thrill of excitement as Puck leaned forward to kiss her cheek, she could only ruin the moment if they'd _had _a moment. And they had had a moment… She didn't care what anyone else in the entire cosmos said, she had just had a moment with Robin Goodfellow… He had kissed her for Christ's sakes! Not that she was complaining, no, sir. Really, she'd like nothing better than if he went and initiated another moment, but she suspected that was probably hoping too much at this point, given neither of them could really breathe properly, and she couldn't think, and as her mind slowly made an effort to remind her of just what the days plans looked like, she considered it was probably better that they didn't have another moment just yet. She'd never make it out of the castle, otherwise, at least not without serious mental damage on her part, and she'd rather avoid that.

"I didn't know you could kiss like that," she told him very quietly, her voice trembling just slightly, and blinked her large brown eyes up at him as he offered a small smile.

"I didn't either," he admitted with a lame little shrug, "And I didn't know you could kiss like that."

"I didn't either," she said, and he gave a low chuckle, now twining both arms around her and drawing her right into his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder. "We probably shouldn't do that again until we're out of the castle."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, an amused note coloring his voice, "And why do you say that, beautiful?"

"Because I don't think either of us would make it out the doors if we did. I can't think and I don't think I can walk."

Puck's eyes glittered with humor as he looked down at her and asked, "How can you think you can't walk if you can't think period?"

"Shut up, I'm not coherent enough to understand what that meant," she said, thumping his chest with a fist, causing him to laugh softy as he caught her clenched fingers and lift them to his lips.

"That's alright," he told her, still chuckling, brushing feather light kisses over her knuckles and palm, sending darts of fire streaking through her bloodstream so her skin erupted with goose bumps, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. "I'll use small words this time."

"You're an ass," she muttered, trying to pretend she didn't feel her blood flowing backwards in her veins, making her heart thunder stupidly fast and loud in her chest, or that her mind was still reeling, and every light brush of his lips over her skin was making her delirious.

"You're so cute," he sighed, now nuzzling the inside of her wrist so she jolted.

"I fail to see how," she told him curtly, and he lifted his sparkling emerald eyes to look at her, a devious little smile playing across his lips. "And there's that look! That look that says you're up to no good!"

"Of course I'm up to no good, silly girl," he chuckled, kissing the inside of her wrist so she shivered from head to toe. "It's my occupation. Well, one of them, anyway."

"You have multiple occupations?" she asked, wishing her heart could slow down for at least two second so she didn't feel like she was spending every moment trying to catch her breath. Her lips still tingled, and she had to resist the urge to lift her fingers to them to see if there was a physical deformity of some kind causing the insistent sensation.

"Many," he said with a small nod, "But only two that I really enjoy, maybe three."

"And what would those two, maybe three, be?" she asked curiously, tilting her head back slightly to look up into his mischievous green eyes.

"Well," he said, his tone suggesting she should get ready for some grand reveal, "If you really must know—"

"I must," Nikki said bluntly, and Puck grinned.

"Then I shall continue," he said, tapping her nose playfully and winking. "As it so happens, my two most favorite occupations have become my second and third favorite occupations! The second occupation, formerly the first favorite, is wreaking all manner of havoc and mayhem, and making a general ass of myself because I enjoy it, and it gives me something to do on the weekends, and every other day in between those other days. The third favorite, formerly the second favorite, is eating. Because we all know eating is a very important, very enjoyable pastime, and anyone who doesn't eat has this strange habit of ending up dead, and no one is really sure how or why that happens. We have suspicions, such as this outrageous notion that their bodies simply can longer sustain life without any form of nutrition to power them onwards, and eventually, after a prolonged period of time without sustenance they merely wilt away, like a flower in winter. The shortened, informal term for this slow degradation of the body is known as 'starvation', and since I do not consider starvation a favorite occupation, I go for the opposite of it, which is known as 'binging'."

Nikki snickered in amusement at his long winded explanation, not to mention how formal and proper he managed to sound about the whole thing, as though he were standing before an entire audience, giving a lecture in the Oxford auditorium, making sure they all understood the seriousness and intricate nature that was starvation.

"So, hell raising and eating," she said, counting them off on her fingers while she grinned up at him. "Those are two. There's a third? Your favorite occupation?"

"Indeed, my good woman," he said, nodding and flashing his trademark devious smile. "It has only become my favorite occupation as of very recently, as I didn't know I would ever have such enjoyment in indulging in this occupation, though, I admit, I suspected that, perhaps, just maybe, I _might _enjoy it, but I didn't want to jump the gun prematurely, because then I'd probably get shoot right in the ass for jumping it in the first place. Not to mention, we all know exactly what happens when you assume."

"You make an ass out of you and me," Nikki quoted with a smirk. "So, were your secret assumptions correct? You enjoy it?"

"Very much so," Puck agreed with a serious nod. "Shall I tell you what it is?"

"I was kind of hoping that was what you were leading up to with naming your other previous favorite occupations," she admitted with a roll of her dark eyes. "Or are you just going to leave me hanging because that would fall under the category of hell raising?"

"I contemplated it," he confessed slyly. "But I decided that would not be a good idea. As I believe we already discussed that you would like me to answer you fully and without restraint or you might just have to do something rather unreligious and violent towards my person."

"You're right," she told him, grinning darkly, "I would."

"Just as I suspected," he muttered, giving her a wary look, though there was still amusement glittering in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her, "So, to the matter at hand. My recently procured favorite occupation. It is really quite the interesting thing, since, as I said, it has been acquired recently, one might even say within the past few moments."

Nikki felt her heart turn over in excitement, though she kept her face carefully remote, and merely blinked innocently up at Puck as he grinned down at her.

"Does the lady think she can offer a guess as to what my new favorite occupation is?" he inquired in a saint-like voice, though his eyes spoke a different story as he beamed at her.

"I'm sure I could," she said slowly, "But I don't think I will. I want to hear you say it. That way I don't make an ass of you and me."

"Fair enough, ma'am," chuckled the faery, shifting his position slightly, still keeping her in his arms, so he was sitting up a little straighter, and lifted a hand to brush it lightly through her mahogany colored tresses. "But you have to promise if I tell you that you won't tell another living soul, okay? It's a very special secret."

"I promise," she said, crossing her heart solemnly and smiling up at him.

"You know," he said, "When you make a promise with a faery you're stuck to it for life, right?"

"I know," she murmured, leaning her head against his shoulder, breathing in that wood and fire scent that seemed so uniquely him. "I don't think I'll mind this promise."

"Alright, then," he said, a low chuckle issuing from his chest so she felt him shake slightly with the movement. "Then, lend me your ear, fair lady, so I can tell you."

She glanced up at him, peering up from beneath her long lashes, and he smiled down at her, that twinkling mischief back in his eyes. Smiling back at him, she craned her head towards him, so his lips could brush over her ear, sending a thrill down her spine so she shivered as his warmth breath blew softly over her skin.

"My new favorite occupation," he murmured in her ear, his voice low, secretive, but saturated with laughter so she almost started giggling, "Believe it or not, is—"

"Robin Goodfellow."

"Fuck my life…"

Nikki almost laughed at the look of total and utter annoyance on Puck's face as he straightened up, turning his head around to gaze down the hallway with barely concealed irritation to where a tall, antlered being was striding towards them.

"Good morning, my lovely lordship," Puck hailed Oberon as the Erkling came towards them, his long strides eating up the ground so within a matter of seconds he was in front of them, his green eyes narrowed as he looked down at Puck and Nikki and the spilled basket of food littering the floor. "You are looking absolutely radiant this fine day, and what brings you to our humble…uh…" He glanced around at their surroundings, "…corner of the wall."

"Sarah Skinflayer has been to see me this morning," Oberon informed Puck in a warning tone, and Puck heaved a deep sigh. "She informed me that you had been raiding the kitchens."

"Raiding, me?" asked Puck, his eyes stretched wide in a look of total innocence and disbelief. "My Lord, you can't honestly believe that I of all people would raid the kitchens, do you? Because, I have to say, if you do, then you're damn right I did."

Nikki snorted with laughter, then hurriedly buried her face in Puck's shoulder as Oberon cast a glance down at her, attempting to stifle her giggles.

"How many times have I asked that you refrain from upsetting the cooking staff?" sighed the Erkling, turning his attention back to Puck, a rather weary expression on his face, "Especially so early in the morning. No one else in the entire castle is up yet and you're already making a right display of things."

"Not up my foot," sniffed Puck, looking affronted. "Why, my good King, can you not see the fine young feline standing just at your six o'clock, just waiting to disprove you on the issue of no one else in the entire castle being awake?"

"Do not draw me into your quarrels, Goodfellow," sighed a tired voice, speaking from behind Oberon, and a moment later, as the Erkling stepped back to look around a rather large orange tabby came into view, eyeing Puck with a weary green gaze. "It is much too early for this sort of mockery, and I am not here to stay. That aside, I was already up a good deal earlier than the lot of you, so I do not qualify as 'anyone else in this castle'."

"Pah," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes. "You do so, and you know it. You just don't want to get turned into a human like Demon did."

"I could care less for what form I am to take," sighed Sorrel, rolling his eyes and flicking his long, orange tail. "I merely do not wish to be brought into senseless issues such as this one. Besides, haven't you better things to do? Like seeing to your lady and going to rouse the others of your posse? Or do you not have somewhere to be getting today before the sun goes down?"

"Ah, that's right!" gasped Nikki, memory coming back like a tidal wave so she jerked her head up so sharply she nearly slammed into Puck's jaw. Luckily, he had had a foreshadowing of danger and hurriedly leaned his head away as she popped upwards like a Jack-in-the-Box, narrowly avoiding the collision.

"Steady there, girl," he said with a small laugh, patting her back as she turned to stare at Sorrel. "You keep moving that fast and someone's going to lose a tooth."

She ignored him, and blinked at Sorrel. "So, are you here to wish us off or something? Since you seem to have the idea we're leaving today."

"There is that, too," agreed Sorrel, dipping his orange head towards Nikki. "But I also wished to speak with Lord Oberon about something as well."

His tone remained even and light, but the look he shot Oberon as the Erkling glanced down at him spoke differently, and Nikki felt a sudden premonition of danger as she watched the Erkling's eyes narrow to slits as he gazed down at the Cait Sit.

"What's wrong?" Puck asked softly, also sensing a 'disturbance in the force' as he looked uncertainly between Oberon and Sorrel.

"You may wish to inform him on it as well, my Lord," Sorrel prompted Oberon when the Summer King hesitated to answer Puck. "Since he will undoubtedly pass right by it, it seems only necessary that he be wary of it."

"Of what?" asked Nikki, feeling a chill slide down her back so her hand tightened unconsciously around Puck's forearm as she looked at Sorrel. "Is it bad?"

"Not bad, per se," Sorrel said evasively, "Just something to be considerate of. I must say, though, I was surprised to even see him in these parts. He usually does not venture out this way, more for an aversion to the court than anything else."

"I hate when he talks like this," muttered Puck under his breath to Nikki, who nodded vaguely in agreement as Oberon cast a skeptical look down at Sorrel.

"Just who did you cross so close to the courts, Lord Sorrel?" the King asked the Cait Sith.

"The Wolf, your grace," murmured Sorrel, and Puck stiffened under Nikki's hand. "He did not seem in any particular business, though I noticed he lingered in his area much longer than is his usual preference, as though he were waiting for something. When he saw me, however, he moved on a little ways and settled himself there instead."

"Just whereabouts outside the grounds is he?" Oberon asked, his eyes narrowing.

"About a quarter mile to the west," Sorrel estimated with a little flick of his tail. "If I did not know better, sire, I would almost think he was waiting for someone to leave from here."

"That makes no sense," Oberon murmured, looking bemused. "Who could he possibly be waiting for?"

"I do not know, sire," admitted Sorrel, shaking his head. "I did attempt to approach him to question his motives in being here, but he merely told me he was returning a favor to someone, but would not disclose to whom the favor was owed. Of course, when I persisted, he decided snarling would be a preferable course of action, and I chose to leave him be. He was not acting as though he meant to harm anyone who might come out of the walls, merely that he would be waiting for them. After all, he knew I was coming to speak with you, so it does not make sense that he would forewarn us that he was preparing to meet someone if his intention was to do them injury."

"Very true," agreed Oberon, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps I should go and speak with him."

"Or we could just leave him alone and pretend he's not there," suggested Puck, sounding a little wary, and Nikki cast a glance up into his face, noting the hardness in his emerald eyes. "He's not exactly one to talk, highness. And the last time he and I ended up on equal turf I just didn't really enjoy the chill time with him."

"A wolf?" asked Nikki, now a little confused. In her mind's eye, she'd been envisioning Bane, but the way that Puck was talking now didn't really make sense, and she felt like Oberon wouldn't quite have the same reaction to Sorrel's news if they were discussing Sage's familiar. "Like…he's just a wolf, isn't he? What's so wrong with talking to him?"

She should have guessed that wouldn't be a wise thing to say, and she was instantly proven right by the way all three fey turned their heads to gawk at her as though she might just as well have grown two extra heads.

"Oh, honey," said Puck, and his tone was so sympathetic that she couldn't help the twinge of annoyance that sparked inside of her. "Beautiful, this is no ordinary wolf, alright? Please tell me you at least had the decency to read Little Red Riding Hood, or the Three Little Pigs, _or _Peter and the Wolf at some time in your childhood."

"Uh, the first two, yeah," she said, giving him a critical look.

She waited for him to elaborate on just what he was getting at, but when his only elaboration was him arching both eyebrows and fixing her with a very pointed look she had to take a couple of seconds before the connections slid into place, and she let out a gasp of both horror and awe.

"The Big Bad Wolf?" she asked, feeling stunned. "You mean…like…_the _Big Bad Wolf?"

"The one and only," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes, looking rather disgruntled.

"You're kidding," she said in a voice of quiet awe, both hands going to her mouth. "Oh, my gosh, that's so awesome!"

Puck groaned, clapping a hand to his face while Sorrel gave a small, feline cough of amusement, and Oberon arched a silvery eyebrow.

"Beautiful," Puck told her, lowering his face to give her a steely look, "Remind me later that you and I need to have a talk about just what 'awesome' in all its true contexts means, and how the Wolf is anything _but _awesome."

"But he's the Big Bad Wolf," she insisted. "He's legendary!"

"Don't remind me," said Puck, grimacing. "And don't remind _him_. He's already got a huge head as it is. Literally, it's huge. Like this big." He stretched his arms out as far as they could go, which gave about five and some feet of length.

"His head is not that big, Goodfellow, do not over exaggerate," said Sorrel, looking a little resigned.

"It's as good as," said Puck, snorting as he dropped his arms to coil them around Nikki. "He's a big ass dog."

"He is not a dog," Nikki said defensively, so Puck turned to stare at her, "He is a wolf. There is a huge difference."

"They slobber, they bark and they stink," Puck said bluntly. "There is no difference. Other than you can get one to beg and roll over and the other would sooner take your leg off."

"You are horrible," Nikki told him, frowning. "Don't you have any respect for him?"

"I do," he said easily, "He's strong, he's old, but he's an idiot. Well, he _was_. Still kind of _is_. But he's gotten better. Just a little." He held up his hand, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.

"You know, you really need to learn to make sense when you're talking, Puck," she sighed, shaking her head. "Because all I got out of that was that you think he used to be an idiot, he almost died, and you have little to no respect for him."

"That's about all you need to know between Goodfellow and the Wolf," said Sorrel, purring in amusement, "Because that's all you're probably going to hear. And, as for you, Goodfellow, I wouldn't concern yourself with the Wolf. I doubt he has any interest in seeing you."

"He doesn't?" asked Puck, feigning disappointment as he gave an overly dramatic pout. "And here I was, all a twitter to go see him. What kind of love is that, I tell you? Doesn't he care about what we had?"

"Considering I don't think you guys had anything together, I don't think he does," Nikki informed him, to which he stuck his tongue at her and gave her a sharp poke in the ribs that made her squeak and wriggle in his arms. "Don't poke me!"

"But it's so much fun," said Puck, grinning evilly as he managed to get a jab into her side so she squealed and fought even harder to get free.

"You're so mean, let go!" she gasped, half laughing, as she pushed desperately at his chest, trying to get some clearance from him, but her attempts were so poor that it only served to entertain Puck as he continued to poke and tickle her sides until she was pleading for mercy, tears of laughter in her eyes, while Oberon and Sorrel looked on in vague amusement and interest.

While Nikki and Puck were occupied, Sorrel cast a glance up at Oberon, who met his gaze, and twitched his whiskers in amusement.

"Quite the pair, they are," the Cait Sith observed, inclining his head towards the two tussling faeries.

"You mean nightmare," sighed Oberon, shaking his head in despair, though there was a kind of fondness in his expression as he watched Puck latch on to Nikki's waist when she would have managed to get away from him. "I don't think I've ever encountered a more lethal pairing in all my centuries of existence."

Sorrel gave another feline cough of amusement, then pricked an ear as the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention, coming from behind him.

"There you are!" gasped a girl's half annoyed, half relieved voice, and a moment later Trinity stepped forward, sweeping right past Oberon and Sorrel, to stand before Nikki and Puck, who had frozen on the floor, staring up at her, and looking like two very guilty children getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Jeez, I've been looking all over for you guys for the past hour! I got up and went to your room, and you weren't there"—she fixed Nikki with a stony glare—"then went to his room and he wasn't there, either!"

Puck offered a meek smile as Trinity put her hands on her hips, glaring down at him from behind her ivory bangs, which were falling out of the high ponytail she'd pulled the rest of her hair into. With a slight start, Nikki realized her friend was wearing normal, human clothes, something she hadn't had the chance to see her friend really do in the past two weeks. Denim jeans, a loose t-shirt, and a jacket tied around her waist, and her sneakers laced up.

"Well, don't you look ready to take on the world," she commented to her friend, straightening up from the floor and looking over her friend's outfit.

"I figured this was better than a dress considering where we're supposed to be going," Trinity said with a small smirk, "Which reminds me, you might want to do yourself a favor and get dressed, too, since we're leaving soon."

"Already?" complained Puck, still sprawled out on the ground. "We didn't even get to finish breakfast!"

"Then you can finish it while go wake up Cat and get her ready and get her to eat something, too," Trinity told him sweetly, flashing a smile that reminded him more of a shark than anything so he edged hesitantly behind Nikki, as though seeking protection. "We already said we'd leave as soon as we got up this morning, and I already got everything packed that needs packing, and Demon was up when I went by the room, packing up everything Cat will need, so he'll get her as ready as possible, if I don't end being the one to wake her up, because she was still out cold when I went in while I was looking for the pair of you. Which also brings up another issue: Why the hell are you two on the floor?"

Nikki felt her cheeks flush with color as she looked up at her friend, a tentative smile on her face, while Trinity looked back down at her, one eyebrow cocked, hands still on her jean-clad hips, and the faintest trace of a smirk on her face.

"Well?" Trinity prompted her when she didn't answer.

"Puck started it," was all Nikki could think to say, pointing a finger at the fiery haired fey, who looked startled as Trinity turned inquisitive blue eyes on him, and he sat up at once.

"Madam," he said indignantly, his emerald eyes flashing at Nikki as she smirked over at him. "You were a very active participant, and I do not see any reason why I should take the downfall for this mutually enjoyed tom foolery."

"You're both idjits, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter," Trinity said with a sigh, putting her hands up in defeat. "I can already tell that neither of you are going to tell me a thing I want to hear, so I'll just leave it alone. But, really, Nik, you should go get dressed and get ready to head out."

"Yeah, yeah," said Nikki, waving her hand to signal that she'd heard.

Trinity then turned to Oberon and Sorrel, the former of whom inclined his head to her and she returned the gesture.

"I really don't how long this whole thing will take," she told Oberon with a small frown, "But hopefully not more than a month."

"However long it takes," Oberon said in his low voice, "Be sure not to let yourselves fall into any unnecessary dangers, and always be prepared. The Briars are no place to go making idle mistakes. And so long as you manage to return by the next Elysium, there will be no problems."

"The next Elysium?" Nikki had caught the last part of the conversation and turned in surprise to Oberon. "We just had Elysium last night, how soon is the next one?"

"Six human months," Oberon answered calmly, glancing over at her. "And this next time it will be held in Tir Na Nog, to allow Mab her chance to host the festivities."

"And then there is the Exchange, too," Sorrel added from the floor, swishing his orange tail across the tile, "Which will take place very soon before that."

"You need not be present for the Exchange," Oberon said when Trinity looked a little startled, "Merely for Elysium."

"Just me?" Trinity asked, sounding a little uneasy. "Or…do Nikki and Cat need to come, too?"

"I would rather they be present," Oberon said with a small nod, his gaze flickering over Nikki again. "It would be a good experience for the both of them again."

Nikki wasn't sure what about his wording got to rubbing her the wrong way—maybe all of it—but the minute the words had left her mouth she was annoyed.

"I don't think Cat should come," she said firmly, surprising the others around her, especially Oberon. "It's bad enough what happened last night, and even if it's six human months from now, time flows differently here, so it could be as soon as a week or something crazy like that, and that's not enough time for her to recover. And there's also the bit where I don't want her within sighting distance of Rowan if I get to have any say in the matter."

"I second that," Trinity agreed with a firm nod, looking up at Oberon with narrowed blue eyes. "Cat shouldn't have to come to Elysium. If she wants to, that's up to her, but I don't feel like you should have the right to demand that she come, my Lord. She's not exactly a member of the court, and after this, depending on how long it takes to find Lord Wrath, and whether or not he has information on her father, she may be off doing something else to keep her from attending."

Oberon gazed down at Trinity for a moment, lost in thought, his aged green eyes contemplating the look of subtle defiance on Trinity's face, and, when he seemed to reach his conclusion, he nodded.

"Very well," he said in his thundering voice, "She will not be required to attend. If she chooses to do so, then, of course she will be welcome."

Trinity nodded, relief passing through her, and, glancing over at Nikki, she saw her friend looking equally relieved to hear the Erkling give the permission, though, given what they were both thinking, even if Oberon had demanded Catherine go to the next Elysium, they probably would have just blown him off anyway.


	27. Chapter 27

"Well, then," said Trinity, turning then to Nikki and Puck again, "I'll meet you guys a little later. Demon said to meet out by the front gate, and, Puck, you were going to take us to the trod we used to get here a couple weeks ago."

"Right," said Puck, saluting. "We'll be there."

"An hour enough time for the both of you to get ready?" Trinity asked, giving Nikki and critical look, and Nikki nodded.

"Definitely," she said, flashing a smile at her friend, and felt her stomach give a jolt of excitement as she realized they were really about to go. "We'll be there, like this idjit said."

She patted Puck lightly on the head, much to his pretended chagrin, and Trinity rolled her eyes, looking amused.

"See you guys, then," she said, and with a brief wave turned on her heel and went rushing off down the hall, back towards the direction of their rooms, obviously going to wake Catherine.

"Jeez, she seems in a hurry," muttered Puck, staring after the ivory haired girl, then glancing at Nikki. "What's got her panties in a twist? I thought this was Cat's adventure."

"It is Cat's adventure, but you know Tri," sighed Nikki, rolling her eyes as she pushed herself up from the floor, dusting herself off and turning to look at Puck as he also leapt to his feet. "She's got her own reasons for wanting to get moving."

"Ah, right," said Puck, momentary understanding lighting up his face before he remembered Oberon was still standing there and quickly covered it up with a cheeky grin.

"So, what do you think we can manage to get away with in an hour?" he asked, his tone rather insinuative, and waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Nothing you're thinking about," she told him severely, and he laughed.

"Aw, you're not even a little curious to see if we can't go scare the hell out of some piskies before we go?" he asked with an impish smile.

"Robin Goodfellow, do not even act as though that was what you were talking about," she said, swatting at him, but he danced out of reach before she could land a blow, still grinning.

"Well, what you were _you _thinking about then?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Never you mind," she said stiffly, turning away and beginning to march down the hall in the direction that Trinity had gone.

Puck's eyes widened marginally, and a look of pure deviousness lit his face.

"Ooooh, Nikki," he said, a huge grin splitting across his face, his emerald eyes dancing as he sauntered after her. "Were you thinking dirty things?"

"Yeah, I was," she said with a snort, turning to throw a small grin back at him. "Like pushing you face first into a mud puddle and seeing what happened."

"Oh, very well done, beautiful, very nice," he congratulated her with a small snicker. "Now, really, what were you thinking that I was suggesting we do? Huh? Huh?"

He was poking her as they slipped past Oberon and Sorrel, and she swatted at his hands, making little sounds of annoyance.

"You can't act as though you don't know damn well what I thought you were thinking, you cur, now quit _poking _me, dammit!"

Puck laughed as she slapped at his hands, finally landing a decent blow, but it didn't deter him in the least, and he merely aimed a jab at her unprotected right side that made her squeak.

"You were thinking," he sang, dancing around her, just out of reach when she would have smacked him again, "That you wanna hold me, and love me, and—OW!"

Nikki had lunged, landing a rather vicious poke right into his cheek so he staggered back, looking stunned, and she lifted her hand, getting ready for another attack.

"Again, with the face!" he exclaimed, leaping clean out of the way as she made another rush at him. "What is up with you and my face?!"

"A nightmare in the making if ever I saw one," sighed Sorrel where he stood with Oberon, watching as the two faeries went scurrying out of sight, Nikki in hot pursuit as Puck went streaking down the hall at top speed, both of them laughing and cursing in equal volume and frequency. "I hope you can handle little Goodfellows running around in the future, my Lord, because that is what I am foreseeing."

"Then I thank the Creator you are no seer," Oberon confided in the Cait Sith with a small smile, "So long as I do not receive total confirmation on the matter, I intend to act as though Robin Goodfellow will remain the sole Goodfellow in the whole Nevernever."

"Then I hope it does not come back to do you ill, sire," chortled Sorrel, twitching his whiskers in amusement, rising to his paws to follow Oberon as the Erkling swept down one of the halls. "And if it does, I will wish you the best of luck."

Oberon cast the Cait Sith a rather menacing look, but did nothing more than that as he turned on his heel and strode down another hall, heaving a deep sigh, and after another small, feline chuckle, Sorrel padded after him, casting an amused look over his shoulder to where the sounds of Puck and Nikki were still clearly audible down the other corridor before shaking his head and walking away.

"My _face_!" Puck exclaimed, his shout ringing through the hallways, followed by a yelp as Nikki landed another rather fierce poke against his forehead. "Woman! Leave my face alone!"

"But it's so pokeable!" Nikki said, laughing as Puck shackled her wrists with his much larger hands, spinning her around so her chest was to his back, keeping her from reaching him again. "Hey, let go, I wasn't done poking you!"

"I am done with you poking me," said Puck, also laughing as he pinned her against him, his chin on her shoulder, and a huge grin on his face. "My face is going to fall off if you keep poking it, or it will become deformed and I will never again be as gorgeous as I am now."

"You're gorgeous, huh?" Nikki asked, giggling. "And who told you that?"

"I believe her name was Nicolette," he recalled with a devious smile. "Though she didn't quite use the exact words 'gorgeous'. I believe she called me sexy."

"Because you are," Nikki informed him, smiling. "Very sexy. You know, you never finished telling me what your new favorite occupation is."

"I didn't, did I?" he said, looking shocked as he nuzzled against her shoulder. "Shame on me, I really need to do that before we get going."

"That's something you can do in hour," she said thoughtfully, and he snickered.

"But it's nowhere near as fun as something else you could do in an hour," he pointed out, waggling his eyebrows at her in such a way that she had to laugh again.

"We're not going to scare the living hell out of a bunch of piskies, Robin," she told him, her tone chastising.

"And why are you thinking of scaring piskies?" he asked, blinking in bewilderment at her, though the laughter glinting in his eyes gave away his deeper thoughts. "Isn't there something else we were contemplating? Something dirty?"

He murmured it softly in her ear, making her shiver, and her heart give a little jolt against her ribs.

"You mean pushing you into a mud puddle?" she asked as calmly as she could, casting him a look over her shoulder, one dark brow arched as he smirked.

"Sure, we can go with that," he said idly, winking an emerald eye.

"Oh, wait!" she gasped with sudden inspiration, and wriggled in his grip. "Let go for a minute!"

"And endanger my face, are you serious?" he asked in stunned disbelief.

"I won't poke your face again, I promise," she said hurriedly, still wriggling. "Just let go, I have the most awesome idea of what we can do to pass an hour, plus getting packed and dressed and everything."

"Really, now?" he asked, sounding interested now, and giving her a very pointed up-and-down. "And just what is on your mind, beautiful?"

"You'll find out if you let me go," she said in a saintly voice, and he smirked.

"You promise not to abuse my face?" he inquired, arching a ginger brow, and she nodded.

"I promise," she said.

He hesitated for a moment longer, giving her a look that seemed mistrusting, but he couldn't quite manage to hide the little smirk toying with the corners of his mouth, and after another second of attempting to look serious, he gave it up as a bad job, sighed, and slowly released her, though even as he let his arms drop he kept a firm hold on one of her wrists.

"So," she said, turning to beam up at him, excitement lighting her whole face up. "I had a thought…"

"Uh-oh," he said in mock fear, but he was smirking.

"It wasn't a good thought," she admitted with a small grin, "But a thought, nonetheless."

"Let's hear this not so good thought that was a thought, nonetheless, then," Puck invited her, grinning as well as he trailed his fingers down her wrist—lighting flames in her blood and sending her heart skyrocketing—until he was twining his fingers with hers. "You've got me on pins and needles wondering what kind of shenanigans you're going to get us into."

"Well," she said, dropping her voice to conspirator's whisper, "It involves the bed…"

His eyebrow shot up, and a deliberate smirk curved his lips. "Really," he said, a purr to his voice, "Tell me more."

"It also involves pillows," she went on, giving him a little wink, and his smirk became more pronounced, "And sheets, and lots of rolling around."

"Oooh, you're getting me excited," he said, dramatically fanning himself with his free hand, "I'm having vapors."

"Though I should tell you," she said, now in a warning tone, though she was still grinning as he cocked an inquisitive brow at her, "I am a world champion at this particular thing. I am, as yet, undefeated."

Puck blinked at her, momentarily thrown, then his emerald eyes narrowed, and his smirk grew.

"I see what you did there," he said, grinning. "Wow, you're good."

"Why, Robin," she said, feigning shock, "Were you thinking dirty things?"

"Absolutely," he said, unabashed, "Like diving into a mud puddle."

"Don't lie, you weren't thinking anything about mud puddles," she told him, rolling her dark eyes skyward.

"Perhaps not," he agreed with a devious little grin, "But can you blame me when your power of words is so deliberately and tantalizingly imaginative and insinuative? The only being I have ever encountered who could ever hope to match you in such a thing as verbal sparring would happen to be the one and only amazing faery standing right before your eyes."

Nikki gave him a slow once over as he stood before her, striking a grand pose, and barely managed to hide her smirk.

"Riiiight," she said with a deliberate sarcasm injected into her tone.

"You don't believe me," he gasped, sounding stunned as he clapped a hand to his heart.

"No, I believe you," she said, grinning, "I just think you're a little pervert for thinking whatever you were thinking about what I was saying. I'm not even that good at dancing around the truth like you and other people here. I didn't think you'd seriously buy into it."

"Well, I did," he said, giving a little sniff of indignance, though the glint in his emerald eyes said he wasn't at all annoyed with her. "You deceived me, madam! You would have seduced me and then left me lying around in the bed, covered in feathers, wondering what the hell happened."

"When you say it like that, you make it sound like I would have ravaged you for the next hour and then just walked off into the sunrise without a backwards glance," she said, giggling in spite of herself.

"You would have!" he said, lifting a hand to poke a finger right into the center of her forehead so she squeaked in alarm and recoiled. "You would have ravaged me with pillows!"

"Oh, the horror," she scoffed, rubbing her now sore forehead and giving him a half hearted glare. "I'm sure you never would have recovered."

"I wouldn't have," he said dramatically, feigning a look of total despair, circling his arms around her waist and dragging her suddenly up against him, "I would have been a wreck. An emotionally devastated wreck!"

He dropped his head onto her shoulder, beginning to fake sob with such convincing noise that if Nikki hadn't been able to feel his broad smirk against her neck, she might have believed him. Instead, she heaved a deep sigh, rolling her dark eyes in total exasperation, and lifted a hand to gently pat at his head as he fake sobbed into her shoulder, arms tight around her, and tried to ignore the stupid fluttering in her heart, though a warm smile still managed to find its way onto her face.

"You're hopeless," she told him fondly, leaning her head against his and sighing.

"Do you still love me anyway?" he asked in a mock tearful voice, rubbing his cheek against the side of her neck.

"Yes, I do," she sighed, smiling, running her fingers through his fiery hair. "You wouldn't be you if you weren't hopeless, and you know what?"

"What?" He sniffled, turning his head to look up at her, his glimmering emerald eyes stretched wide.

She felt her heart turn over to see that falsely sad look on his face, and to see the laughter and amusement glowing in his eyes. Smiling warmly down at him, feeling her heart thump hard against her chest, and his arms—strong and warm—around her, she brushed a strand of fiery red hair away from his ear and leaned down towards him.

"I love the hopeless you," she murmured.

Though she was saying it to Puck, she still felt her heart give a giddy little whirl in her chest, and felt a little of the breath leave her as she gazed down into his sparkling emerald eyes. And he gazed back at her, not speaking, not moving, but there was a smile on his face, not his goofy 'I'm-up-to-no-good' smile, or even his trademark Robin Goodfellow grin, but an honest to goodness, heart wrenching, warm all the way down to the soul smile. And though he didn't say anything as he lifted his head from her shoulder, the look in his eyes told more than he could probably ever manage to say out loud. He leaned his forehead against hers, and she felt a spark fly between them as their skin met, and she could feel her stomach twisting in excited knots as his face came within centimeters of hers, his warm breath feathering over her lips and cheek.

"You know what?" he murmured very quietly, just barely above a whisper, and his warm fingers twined with hers.

"What?" she asked, actually whispering, her heart slamming like a battering ram into her ribs, leaving her breathless, but she didn't at all mind it.

"Can you believe this hopeless me loves the beautiful you?" he asked her, his emerald eyes glowing from within, setting fire to her bloodstream again. "No matter how much you don't believe you're beautiful, or how stupid I am, or how much trouble we both get into, can you really believe that?"

Nikki smiled up at him, her brown eyes glittering. "After all the time I've spent here," she said, looking around the hall they stood in, "After everything I've seen, I don't think I could honestly say I don't believe it."

Puck's smile rivaled the sunshine in brilliance as he grinned down at her, and she giggled as he dropped a kiss on her cheek.

"After all, you know what they say," he said, leaning back, but keeping a firm grip on her hand, fingers still linked. "Faith, trust and pixie dust? Though I'm referencing the faith part, there."

"And glamour," she added wisely as they set off down the hall again.

"And glamour," he agreed with a warm chuckle. "Much, much glamour. Hey…Now that's an idea."

He slowed as they walked down the hall, a sudden look of inspiration lighting his face.

"Hey, what?" she asked, casting him a curious glance.

"Glamour," he said, and gave her his secretive smile, making her instantly wary.

"What about it?" she asked, leaning her head away from him as he smirked, giving him a very suspicious look.

"I wonder if I could glamour you enough, though," he went on, as though he hadn't heard her question, not that she needed him to directly answer it now as he gave her an appraising look, wicked contemplation in his eyes. "You seem pretty powerful already, but I'm waaaaaay older, so I bet that'd make a difference in our power capacity, not to mention you already think I'm totally sexy, so I need to calculate that in."

"You try to glamour me into bed with you and see if you don't wake up with three less parts than you started with," Nikki threatened him.

If Puck wanted to laugh, he did a very horrible job of trying to cover it up, as he snorted with laughter a split second before he managed to clap a hand over his mouth, hiding his smile, though the amusement still glinted in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her, and she glared back up mutinously.

"You think I'm joking, Robin Goodfellow?" she asked him, narrowing her dark brown eyes at him. "Go on, just try it. See what happens. It won't be altogether pleasant for you after you've had your way with me, I can guarantee you that."

"But you're saying it'll be pleasant before the fact?" he inquired wickedly.

"Remind me the next time you get all lovey with me it's just your way of covering up before you do something totally outrageous," she sniped at him, though she was also failing to hide a small grin as they sauntered down the hall, still hand-in-hand. "And don't think I'll forgive you easily for that. That was just about the worst idea you've ever had. Glamour me into bed with you…I swear…"

"But I thought you were the one who said you wanted to have a pillow fight," Puck said, stretching his emerald eyes wide in feigned innocence.

"You are sooo not thinking of a pillow fight, sir, don't even try to dance around that truth," she told him severely, jabbing him hard in the side so he yelped. "You'll fall right on your ass trying and I'll laugh, and then I'll castrate you."

"You are a mean little thing, you know that?" he asked, but he was laughing as they finally came up to the door of his bedroom, and he pushed it open to let them inside. "I swear, you have enough malicious mayhem in one finger than anyone else does in their whole body, except me. What you have in finger, I have in one eyelash."

"So, basically, you shouldn't be surprised at all for what I'm telling you," she said, cocking an eyebrow, "Because you're five times a bad as I am when it comes to malicious mayhem, so you can't even complain about it."

"Not entirely true," he disagreed with a little sniff, "I can always complain about it, it just doesn't necessarily mean I wasn't surprised to hear you say it."

"You really know how to pick your way out of a tight spot, don't you?" she asked, sounding resigned as he let her hand slip from his so she could plop down on the still messy bedcovers.

"It's a habit," he said with a lame shrug, grinning from ear-to-ear as he sauntered over to join her, flinging himself down on the mattress, hands behind his head. "How do you think I've managed to stay alive all these years, especially working for Lord Pointy Ears, if I haven't had a few good tricks up my sleeve? A lesser faery would have been dead by now!"

"And you are Robin Goodfellow," she said in a mock regal voice, smiling down at him. "To say you were a lesser faery would be the insult of insults!"

"Damn straight," he agreed with a wink. "I will take nothing less than supreme ultra faery of the entire Nevernever!"

She giggled, rolling her eyes. "You're an idjit," she told him, reaching over to muss his hair affectionately.

"But I'm your idjit," he reminded her, his eyes warming immediately as he caught her hand when she would have pulled it away, and bringing it to his lips, brushing kisses over each finger and in the center of her palm.

"I suppose you are, all the times you keep saying it," she said, trying not to be too conscious of the burning taking place in her gut as she watched him kiss softly over her wrist. "You've left me with no choice but to accept you as my idjit."

"There's always a choice," he said softly, turning his luminous green eyes on her, a gentle smile on his face. "I'm just glad you seem to be making the choice that involves me as your idjit. I feel life would be quite dull otherwise."

"Probably," she agreed. "After all, if I apparently can't have fun without you around, how the hell are you supposed to have fun without me around?"

"For once in my life, I have no answer to that inquiry," he said, and she snickered. "But I do have a question I would like to pose to you, instead, if you are willing to listen to my proposition."

Nikki glanced down at Puck where he lay spread eagled on the bed, trying not to let her eyes linger too much longer on his bare chest and toned abdomen than on his face when she finally managed to yank her eyes upwards to look into his, finding a barely suppressed gleam of amusement in the emerald depths as he contemplated her rosy cheeks.

"What?" she griped at him when he failed to contain a smirk.

"I'll pretend you weren't checking me out," he said, his smirk broadening, "Just to save both of us the trouble that would undoubtedly follow."

"And I might just refuse your proposition," she told him stiffly.

"Awww, but you haven't even heard it yet," he complained, pouting.

"Then spit it out before I smother you with a pillow," she retorted, the corners of her mouth twitching as she fought a smile.

"Yes, my Lady," said Puck dramatically, giving her a salute as he continued to lay out on the bed. "Would you be so kind as to lend me your ear?"

"It's lent," she said, smirking at him.

"I mean here," he said, crooking his finger, gesturing for her to come closer, "Closer, my pretty, so I can be sure you've heard me."

"You're dangerous, you know that?" she asked him, not quite sure if she trusted the look on his face.

Still, might as well, she thought, inclining her head slowly towards him, making sure to keep one eye on his face at all times, though it became rather difficult as he also lifted his head and cocked it to one side, his breath warm on her ear.

"I had a thought," he told her very quietly, amusement coloring his tone.

"Dear God," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "We're all doomed."

"It wasn't a good thought," he ventured on, a small laugh entering his voice, "But it was a thought, nonetheless, and I'd rather like to carry out on it, if you'll let me."

"Tell me what it is and I'll think about it," she bargained with him, "And you may want to make it quick, because I'm pretty sure we're down to forty-five minutes until we're required to leave and Tri won't be happy it if takes longer than that."

"True," he agreed, snickering, "So, here is my proposition. Since we're here, and before you go to pack and ready yourself for the day's perilous ventures, I think I would very much like it if I could kiss you again."

"Again?" she asked, jerking her head back to stare down at him, feeling her cheeks flush crimson as he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Seriously?"

"Did I mention it's become my new favorite occupation?" he asked, grinning. "Kissing you is quite the amazing thing, so it's become my number one favorite occupation."

"It's only an occupation if you make it a part of your daily routine," she told him.

"And this is me, trying to make it a part of my daily routine," he said simply, flopping back down on the bed, his emerald eyes twinkling. "And yet, you seem to want to keep me from making it an occupation."

"You get paid to do an occupation," she added.

"I do get paid," he said, winking, "Just not with money, but money is highly overrated. My payment comes in the form of kisses."

"So you get paid the same way you do your occupation?" she asked, a little bemused, and still feeling her face light up with color as she blinked down at him.

"It's a win-win situation, if you think about it," he told her. "I kiss you, and that is also how you pay me. See? Totally the best occupation in the world."

"You're nuts…"

He snickered. "You just realized?"

"Remember I said earlier I wasn't coherent?" she asked, now taking her turn to arch a brow at him. "You can't blame me for being a little slow on the uptake when you totally fried all of my functional brain circuits."

"And whose fault is that that I managed to do that?" he asked.

"Yours," she said bluntly. "You initiated the destruction of my brain, it's all your fault."

"Madam, may I just take a moment to remind you that you did an equally devastating job on my mental circuitry as well?" he inquired, propping himself up on his elbows so they were a little closer, and giving her an amused look. "My brain has turned entirely to mush."

"It wasn't mush already?"

"You insult me, ma'am, I think I might have to take compensation for that little tidbit," he said, narrowing his emerald eyes at her.

"And what kind of compensation are you looking for, sir?" she asked, snickering, even as she felt a little jolt in her heart when his eyes dropped to her mouth.

"Oh, nothing too serious," he said, his tone deliberately insinuative. "My proposition still stands firm."

"So, I kiss you and all is forgiven?" she asked, pretending to think over the offer.

"That's about the size of it," he confirmed, nodding his head. "All you have to do is lean in and let me have it, and that does not mean the minute I close my eyes you smack me in the face with a pillow and run shrieking from the room like a banshee like I tried to take total and utter advantage of you. That means you give me a nice little kiss right here."

He tapped his lips with a finger.

"There?" Nikki blinked down at his mouth, which curved into a smirk as she looked down at him like he might just try to eat her alive if she leaned in for the kiss he was demanding. "Right there?"

"Yes, here," he said, tapping his lower lip again, "Unless you'd rather kiss something else of questionable location."

"I think I'd rather not even here where that other place is," Nikki said in a low mutter, giving Puck a disgusted look that made him snicker.

"So, you kiss me now?" he asked sweetly, beaming up at her. "Maybe? Please?"

"You're incorrigible," she sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Pleeeeease," he begged, rolling onto his side, grabbing her hand and holding it to his chest, sticking out his lower lip in the most pathetic pout she'd ever seen. "I promise I'll be good."

"Oh, now that's a promise," she laughed, "Robin Goodfellow, promising to be good. All for a little kiss?"

"Not just any kiss!" Puck said dramatically, shaking his head, "But the kiss of the fair maiden!"

"Fair maiden, is it?" Nikki asked, smirking now. "Wow, you've really gone off the deep end haven't you?"

"Woman," exclaimed Puck, sitting up suddenly and throwing his hands in the air, "What will it take for you to kiss me, damn it?!"

He was glaring at her, but it wasn't a truly angry glare, more like the glare you give someone when you have to keep repeating yourself in a different language with the hopes that the foreigner you're talking to will somehow understand you if you say it enough times. And Puck really rather felt like he was in the middle of such a dilemma, speaking Chinese will Nikki spoke Russian and they were completely failing to understand one another.

"You could ask nicely," she told him, cocking an eyebrow. "You know? Like, 'Nikki, please kiss me'. At least that's generally how something like that goes."

"Do you really know me?" he asked, stunned. "Really? Am I really supposed to stoop so low as to casually ask for something so grand from you? And you really expect me to believe you'd do it?"

"You could always try," she suggested, "It wouldn't kill you and what have you got to lose?"

"A damn good kiss," he muttered under his breath.

She waited, eyebrows raised. Glancing around at her, finding her watching him with such a patient expression, Puck felt his heart skip a little beat and frowned at her, his brows knitting together as he waited for her to possibly just bust out laughing at him for taking her seriously, but when she merely sat there, waiting, a look of calm on her face like he'd only ever seen on Oberon's face when dealing with him, he heaved a deep sigh and groaned.

"Ah, fine," he said in defeat, throwing his hands up again, "Might as well, since it looks like nothing else I do will work. I'm still keen on the glamouring you into a stupor idea, but something tells me I'd regret waking up with certain parts of my maleness absent."

"Getting to the point," Nikki sang lightly.

"The point," sighed Puck, leaning forward with his elbows propped up on his knees, looking up at her from under half lowered lashes, emerald eyes glittering, "Yes…So, Nikki…will you please, pretty please, kiss me?"

Nikki hadn't been entirely prepared for the hammering thump that her heart gave at his words, though she had thought she would be, but apparently she was overestimating her abilities around the red headed faery now looking up at her with such pleading in his emerald eyes that she could feel her heart turning over just to look at him, and her stomach turned in knots.

"Please?" he asked her again, softer this time, his green eyes fairly burning up at her from under his dark lashes, and her heart jolted against her ribs.

"You're lethal," she told him quietly, her voice shaking slightly as he straightened up from his slouch, tilting his head to look at her.

"Only to you," he murmured, smiling slightly. "And you gave me false hope…you said if I asked nicely you'd—"

Nikki didn't give him a chance to finish, leaning in swiftly and pressing her lips to his complaining mouth before he could get any farther than that, and experiencing a very satisfying glow as she felt him go limp almost immediately, a contented sigh leaving his parted lips as he leaned in to deepen the kiss, one hand coming up to tangle in her long hair. Her hands found their way to his chest again, resting tentatively there while she tried to remember how to breathe in between kisses, though it was proving more and more difficult the longer they remained connected, and she was quite certain that her brain was in total override and any second she was liable to lose any good sense she had left. She could already feel the circuits frying themselves, and her heart was pounding thirty miles a minute, but she didn't at all mind.

A short gasp left her as Puck suddenly shifted them both, rolling them to the mattress with him on top, braced over her, as he continued to gently brush his lips over hers, though with every passing second the urgency in his kisses was becoming distinctly more pronounced, and when she lifted her arms to loop them around his neck, dragging him closer, he gave a low moan of eagerness and coiled both arms around her waist, dragging her against him, beginning to kiss her a little more fiercely and deeply. He parted his lips against hers, his tongue sweeping across her lower lip, begging, tempting, and she whimpered slightly. His teeth tugged insistently at her lower lip when she hesitated to respond, though she never once loosened her grip on his shoulders, giving him no chance to move away, and after a few moments of indecision, feeling as though her heart might just come bursting out of her ribs any minute, she tentatively parted her lips to him and felt the ground drop away from her as his tongue touched hers. Her arms tightened almost to the point she had him in a death grip, and he held her just as tightly, though always sure never to crush her in his arms, his every move and ministration tender, but fiery. And she expected nothing less from Robin Goodfellow. Fire was his very essence, it was his nature, and she craved it.

She broke away briefly as he did, trying to catch her breath, her eyes still closed, watching brilliant fireworks pop and wink behind her closed eyelids, and relishing in the rush of pure adrenaline surging through her veins, along with a searing heat that left her feeling light headed and dazed. Puck dropped his head to her shoulder as he caught his breath as well, his eyes also closed, experiencing similar flashes of light in dazzling shades of emerald and ruby and sapphire as glamour circulated through the room around them like a living breathing entity, stirred up from their chaotic emotions. It made him heady just breathing in that much potent glamour, and as he lifted his head again, opening his eyes briefly to look down at Nikki, the world seemed to tilt, spinning wildly, but she remained in focus, her eyes still closed, her lashes dark crescents against her flushed cheeks.

"We'll be the death of each other," he murmured softly, awe in his voice as he leaned back down towards her, lowering his head so his lips feathered across hers, hearing what little breath she had catch.

"I don't mind," she whispered faintly, cracking her dark brown eyes open slightly so he could see a glimmer of fire in them, feeling his gut clench in reaction. "Everyone dies someday, why not this way?"

Puck didn't answer, gazing down into her eyes in a kind of daze, feeling his heart thump haphazardly against his ribs, sure to leave internal bruising. She was doing dangerous things to him with that look, things not many people could manage to do to him, and he had been alive a long time and seen and experienced many things. He had never thought, in any of his centuries, that he would ever regret the number of times he had had his fun, playing around with the innumerable woman that had fallen at his feet, praising him and idolizing him, but staring down at Nikki, seeing that glow in her eyes, feeling the way his gut twisted and his heart throbbed, he regretted every single one of them. Even Meghan…sure, he hadn't done with Meghan what he'd done with so many other woman, but just the thought of the kiss they'd shared made him feel somehow unclean as he looked at Nikki. Pure, innocent Nikki… She deserved better than him, so why was he holding onto her? And why was she letting him?

He wasn't stupid enough to think she was ignorant to just what he had been up to in all his centuries alive. He may look and act the same age as her, but was centuries beyond her youth, even if he hadn't aged a second since his twenty-first year. She couldn't sit there and believe that he hadn't done a single thing in all those centuries. She might be innocent but she wasn't naïve. She had to know he'd messed around, had a few runs…so why was she accepting him like this?

"You're thinking," she said softly, gazing up at him, her dark eyes wise, knowing, as she contemplated his torn expression. "You're thinking about something and it's upsetting you…"

He smiled slightly, not quite able to disguise the conflict in his eyes, though he wished he could protect her from it. Then again, she wouldn't thank him for protecting her from it. She wasn't like that. She worked to protect those she cared about, and made it her business to know their pains. He'd seen it with Catherine, and he knew she was the same with him, no matter how little time they'd spent together since he'd pulled her into the Nevernever with him. She cared about him, even without saying so he knew that she did. She didn't want to see him hurting, the same way she didn't want to see Trinity or Catherine hurting, and the same way he didn't ever want to see her hurting, either. But how could he tell her just what was on his mind without making a total mess of the moment?

"Hey," she said, still in a soft voice, bringing her hand down from his shoulder to run a finger lightly over the slant of his eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

He heaved a deep sigh, letting his eyes fall closed as he took pleasure in just that small brush of her finger across his forehead, feeling it warm him.

"Nikki," he said, his voice low, hesitant, "You know I'm no saint…"

If it had been any other moment, Nikki would have been tempted to make a joke of his words, but looking up at Puck, seeing the pain etched so clearly in the lines of his face, and the barely concealed guilt in his emerald eyes as he opened them to look at her, she knew this was no laughing matter. So she said nothing, and merely nodded in answer to his words, trying not to let her own concern for what he might say show on her face as he sighed again and dropped his head onto her shoulder.

"I just," he murmured, then hesitated, sighed and pressed on wearily, "I've been an ass…an insensitive, promiscuous ass, and I'm not proud of it…"

Ah, she thought, feeling a small tug at her heart as she finally grasped just what he was getting at.

"I know you know better than anyone here that faeries can't lie," he continued, his voice subdued, his forehead warm against her shoulder as he continued to rest it there, his eyes closed, "But you know we can manage not to lie even when we don't tell the whole truth…I just…I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I don't want you to think that I'm not trying to do either of those things…lie or dance around anything…But you'd have every right not to believe me even after I've said that I love you and everything else…"

Nikki felt her heart give a leap as he said 'I love you', even though she knew it wasn't quite the direct context she would have hoped for, but she also felt a small sinking in the pit of her stomach to hear his self-condemning words. She hadn't expected the morning to go quite like this, but she wondered if maybe she should have expected it after hearing him say what he had earlier. She knew it took a lot to get a faery to really love you, since they were so well known for their flippancy and ease of disinterest in mortals or anything else for that matter. It's what made Oberon and Titania's relationship together—though a somewhat loose relationship—such a huge legend. Faeries rarely married, and even when they did it usually didn't last long. More often than naught, they merely entertained themselves with whatever lover they had for the moment before moving on to the next contender. And it sounded as though Puck was telling her he was no different than any other faery.

He'd had his fair share of flings, and she couldn't really say she was surprised. He was, after all, the most famous faery and eligible bachelor in all of the Nevernever, so why wouldn't there be women left right and center throwing themselves at him? And why should she have expected that after God-knew how many centuries alive that he wouldn't have indulged in his devilish side? He was a man, after all, with the feelings and emotions and desires of a man, and despite his normally bubbly and childish personality she couldn't pretend he was any more a child than she was. Sure, he had centuries of experience and life to speak from, so compared to him she was really little more than an infant, but that didn't make her ignorant. Still, she also couldn't pretend it didn't hurt a little to think of just how many woman he could have been with in his centuries alive…she didn't even want to think about it, but as the numbers in her head started racking up to triple digits she had to force herself to stop thinking about the past and think about the present.

And the present, as of that moment, included her, Puck, and a choice. It would be so easy for her to just brush him off and be done with the whole thing, at least in theory. If she told him she didn't want anything to do with him because of his less-than-pure past, she knew he would immediately give way and let her go, though she also knew it wouldn't be without difficulty on his end. She had heard about Puck, and what he was like when he loved, and in his whole existence he had only ever really loved two people or at least so Ash had told her. One had been Meghan. Meghan, who was now the Iron Queen, married to Ash, and totally out of Puck's reach. Puck had looked over Meghan for nearly seventeen years, and had given his whole life to protect her, and in the process had fallen head over heels in love with her, only to be let down when she chose Ash instead. And Nikki couldn't really blame Meghan for making her choice, because if she'd chosen differently Nikki would never have met Puck, never discovered her true heritage, and there would probably not even be the issue she was now facing. But she still felt a burning anger towards the Iron Queen for the way she had ended up hurting Puck.

Puck might be able to act like he'd forgiven her, and in his way he had, but Nikki knew he still hurt over the loss of his first real love. She knew from experience that one never really got over their first true love. It was something that stayed with you for as long as you lived, and you could never really forget it. You might forget the emotions you had and how that person had made you feel, but you would never forget them or what they'd stood for, even if you managed to move on and find someone else that really filled that void, and really made you happy.

And that was where Ash had said she came in. He'd told her in private, of course, during Elysium, since he had mentioned he didn't think Puck would be all that happy to overhear them talking about it. But until Nikki had come along, Puck had spent increasing amounts of time in the mortal world, generally in the woods, out of reach of the deadly taint of the metal dangers presented in the metropolises, but he hadn't been himself anymore. Since Ash's and Meghan's marriage, he'd been more withdrawn, though he still put up a good front whenever he made a show in court for the times he was required to be there, but as soon as his duty was over and done he'd be off to the mortal realm again and no one really had a clue if they'd see him again before the next counsel or whatever he was needed for. But apparently things had changed when Nikki had made her entrance, though she hadn't really known it.

Ash had told her that from the minute he'd seen the two of them together, he'd seen a bit of the old Puck again, not just the mask he'd gotten so good at constructing, but the real, laughing, joking, trouble bringing faery that had so long been his friend. And the more they'd been together, the more Ash had seen the life come back into Puck, and with every encounter with Nikki and Puck together Ash had said he'd seen more joy in Puck's eyes than even the times he was with Meghan. Of course, something the Iron Prince had said made her feel a little like he was over exaggerating the issue, because she'd had a hard time believing for herself that Puck really made a habit of watching her whenever she wasn't looking, or if she happened to be out of arm's reach of him, but after he'd said it she'd remembered how Puck had been with Glitch those long weeks ago. How he'd been so blatantly jealous that Glitch had seemed to be getting comfortable around her, and he'd even gone so far as to say that he looked at her like Ash looked at Meghan. She hadn't really considered it until Ash had brought it up again, and, being where they were, a few yards away from Puck, she'd of course automatically glanced over her shoulder to see what the red headed faery was doing, only to see him look hastily way from her, though not quite in time, then pretend to look back at her like he'd just noticed her watching him and wave merrily.

And here he was now, telling her understood if she didn't really believe him when he said he loved her, and that he'd understand if she wanted to push him away, knowing everything he'd done without it being her. And she had the choice to do just that, but she felt she'd rather jump off the tallest tower in Arcadia than even contemplate something as stupid as telling him to get lost. He'd said it himself, she couldn't have fun without him, not just because he was a joker and he knew how to make stupid jokes into something totally hysterical, but because it was him. She'd been like had when they'd first met. She didn't really fit it anywhere, except with Trinity and Catherine, and she hadn't really known what to do with herself or where to go, and he'd shown her just where she belonged, without even really meaning to. He'd given her a place to belong, a real world to belong in that didn't make her feel like she was wilting all the time, and then he'd taken it a step farther and given her someone to belong to.

He may not realize it, but she'd been too long without having a real place to call home. Home to her wasn't just about a nice building with a bed and a kitchen and the necessities of life all cooped up inside of it to keep you out of the rain. She could take the rain so long as she had a place for her heart to take shelter in, and, whether he believed it or not, whether he liked it or not, Puck was that place. So why the hell was she even taking so much time to think over his question like she really had an answer other than that she wasn't about to shove him out the door?

"You're really an idjit," she sighed, gently lifting a hand and placing it on his head, running her fingers through his fiery red tresses. "You really think I'm just about to tell you to screw off because of things you did in the past? Robin, I thought you knew me better than that."

"I thought I did, too," he admitted, his voice slightly muffled against her shoulder, his warm breath fanning over her neck. "But I wasn't about to sit here and assume that you would be okay with knowing all the shit I did in the past."

"The past is the past," she said softly, "And this is now. I really don't give two flips about the past. It's not all it's cracked up to be, you know? People screw up, Robin, it's a fact of life, no matter how old you are or how wise you get or anything like that. You'll always end up in the present wishing you could do something about something in your past, but you can't. The best thing you can do is acknowledge that it happened, and then work for something better, something you really want, that you can have a hope of getting in the future."

"I know what I want," mumbled Puck, gently nuzzling her shoulder, his arms tightening marginally around her waist.

"And what do you want?" she asked quietly.

"You," he said. "Just you…I never thought I'd say it, but I mean it."

"I believe you," she murmured, feeling a smile come to her face as she carded her fingers through his hair, able to feel his rapid heartbeat thudding against her palm as she laid it across his back.

"But is that asking too much?" he mumbled, still not lifting his head. "I've gotten away with a lot, I've asked for a lot, and I'm not about to go doing that again."

"It's only asking too much," she said, turning her head to touch a kiss to his cheek, "If I don't get to ask for something back."

"You can have anything you want," he promised her softly, and she felt his lips curve in a small smile against her neck.

"You," she said simply, "Just you. That sound fair?"

"More than fair," he said with a small chuckle. "If you want me, you can have me, for as long as you want."

"Forever is looking pretty good," she told him, and he turned his head to peer up at her through half closed emerald eyes. "You think you can take forever?"

"I can take that and then some," he said, a grin stretching across his face, "So long as you don't mind hanging around that long. Really, I'm more worried you won't be able to stand me for more than a century or so."

She felt her heart give a jolt to hear him reference the future—not in years—but centuries. She hadn't ever thought she could live longer than ninety odd years, but now she realized she could…she could live as long as she wanted here in the Nevernever, because she could never age. She could be like Puck, and Oberon and Titania, always young, never growing old, staying nineteen forever…and centuries would seem like years, just flying by…At least to her they would…

She frowned slightly, and Puck's eyes flashed with uncertainty as he took in her suddenly somber expression.

"Second thoughts?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Not that…"

Puck frowned, pushing himself up on his elbows, trying to get a better look at her face, and felt a twisting in his heart to see the shadows of concern and sadness rising in her dark eyes.

"What's up?" he asked, lifting a hand to brush gently at her cheek.

"Centuries," she said, looking up at him, and his brows furrowed in confusion. "I can live centuries here, but my family can't…"

His eyes lit with immediate understanding, then darkened with sadness as he caught up to her train of thought.

"I know I should have realized that before now," she said, feeling the familiar burning behind her eyes that meant she was on the verge of tears, and breathing deeply in the hopes of abating the urge, "But I guess being here, I just kind of forgot that things flow differently…I know when I get back it won't be something crazy like fifty years have passed and they've all forgotten me, though most of them probably will, but…thinking about us a century from now versus them…"

"I'm sorry," Puck murmured, sadness glittering in his emerald eyes as he slowly sat up, drawing her with him and pulling her against his chest, cradling her head against his shoulder. "Nikki, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything like that…"

"Yeah, you should have," she said, nodding, "Otherwise I'd just have kept being stupid about it…I know I need to make the choice whether I want to stay here or go back, and, really, I never want to set foot out of this place, but I know I'll have to go back eventually just to talk to my dad, and tell him what's going on. I'm sure he remembers my mom at least a little, and even if he doesn't he's got to know something has always been different about me. If he doesn't know anything about this place, I can just tell him that I'm going somewhere and he won't hear from me for a while, but I can always write to him, or go back into the Mortal World to visit, right?"

"If that's what you want, you know you can," Puck told her, rubbing his chin over the top of her head. "I'm not going to stop you, and no one else is allowed to tell you anything different. The Mortal World is just as much your home as Faery is, and no one's got the right to tell you can't go home when you want."

"Oberon would make a good try of it, I bet," she mumbled, burying her face in his chest as her eyes threatened tears.

"He would," agreed Puck with a small smile. "But he wouldn't get very far with it. He knows by now that he won't get away with ordering you around, the same way he's struggled for centuries to order me around. He's just better off saying he'd rather we didn't do it and then leaving us to do it anyway."

Nikki nodded in agreement, sniffling quietly, still trying to push back tears as she thought of her father and sister at home. In her mind, she saw her dad bent over with age, sitting in his chair, watching the TV, his hair turned white from his years, and her sister full grown, a wedding band glinting on her finger, with children running amok all over the place while her husband—whoever he ended up being—worked out in the yard. She didn't want to think of them that way, knowing it wouldn't be at all like that when she returned, even if she stayed for another few months, only a year or so would have managed to go by, but still…just the thought of how differently time would flow for her versus the rest of her family made her want to curl up in a ball and cry until she couldn't anymore. In a way, she was both glad and angry that Puck had made her think of how things would change because of the direction her life had taken… Half of her wished he hadn't, so she could have remained blissfully ignorant to the pain and age that her family would endure without her, and the other half of her was glad for the reminder that not everything was at it had been, and probably wouldn't be ever again.

She wasn't all human, and so she could keep pretending to be that way, even if it suited her better. And she couldn't ask Puck to sit in Faery waiting for her if she decided to go back and live her long, human life with her family. It wouldn't be fair, and she didn't want to go back, either…To see her family, she did, yes, but for anything else, no. She had decided already that the Nevernever was where she really belonged…she only wished the rest of her family could belong here, too.

Something hot scalded her cheek and she started, lifting a hand to her face and touching the tear that had slipped from her eye. Hiccupping in alarm, she hurriedly lifted both hands to try and wipe away her tears, but Puck grabbed her wrists before she could get very far with that and held her hands against his chest instead, his lips at her temple.

"It's okay," he murmured as more tears welled in her eyes, "It's okay to cry, Nik…If you don't cry because you're sad, it's like saying you aren't sad at all."

She hesitated, on the fence between melting down or clinging to sanity and composure, but as she glanced up from tear encrusted lashes to look into Puck's tender emerald gaze she gave up. Sanity and composure be damned…

She leaned into him, sobs coming up from her throat, more violent than she would have thought they'd be, and in the back of her mind that little voice told her this wasn't just sadness for her family and what they might lose when she wouldn't. This was more than that. This was every sadness and worry and anger that had been building and building since she'd gotten to the Nevernever, finally given an outlet, and rather than try to quench it like she might have otherwise, she let it all go. With her face pressed into Puck's chest, she let the tears fall, feeling him wrap his arms around her and murmur comfortingly against her hair, his words foreign and ancient, but echoing with a warm tenderness that not even the alien words could distort.

And everything bubbled up and over. She hadn't thought it would be so much until she finally just let it go… The grief for her family's future, the anger at the previous night, remembering what Rowan had gotten away with, the fear of things yet to come… Jeez, when had she built all of this up? When had it become so much all at once? She hadn't even realized it until that very moment… In the back of her mind, she made a very minor mental note to remember never to let herself drown like this ever again, or she might just spontaneously combust from emotional overload.

Puck sat there with his arms around Nikki, letting her tears run down her face and against his chest, warm and wet, a physical show of all the things she hadn't been able to let go of until then, and felt his heart contract, almost shrinking, as he contemplated just how much she'd been holding back and for how long. He knew she generally managed to keep a straight face during a crisis, but that didn't mean her emotions were nil. They were always there, but she never let them show, probably because she felt doing so would just make the situation harder than it either already or really was, and Nikki didn't cause needless worry or panic when matters were so much more easily dealt with the way she was used to. She held everything back to make it easier on everyone else, so no one felt like they had to sit there and make everything better because she was scared or hurting… Yeah, that was Nikki, he thought with a small sigh, a faint smile curving his mouth.

Nikki, the warrior woman. Always strong, always resilient, always ready to make the necessary sacrifice for everyone else, but she couldn't make sacrifices for herself. She'd give her left and right arms for her friends and never once complain of the pain if it made her friends happier and their lives easier and brighter. And that was why she was giving him the chance she was, even after everything she probably knew he'd done, and some things he hadn't. Without even having to say everything, he knew she knew, and she was still willing to give him the chance he had almost thought she might not, even after what they'd talked about, what they'd said. Yes, that was Nikki…his Nikki… Now if only he could be wise and clever enough to make her tears go away… It made him regret even mentioning centuries at all, but he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that she was thankful he had, even if it made her miserable to consider her family aging while she didn't. If he hadn't said anything, she might have gone back to her world ten years from now in Faery time, and realize that nearly thirty years had passed in the Mortal World. Then what would she have done?

"Ah, me," he sighed softly, nuzzling her temple as she hiccupped quietly against his shoulder, her tears finally slowing somewhat, though not entirely stopping, "I really know how to make a moment suck, don't I?"

"It wasn't your fault," she muttered, a hiccup punctuating her words as she spoke. "I just got a little overemotional about it."

"Nikki, love," Puck said, a hint of frustration coloring his tone, "There is nothing overemotional about caring what happens to your family, okay? Don't even try pulling that off. I know you. You might not have ever felt like you belonged at home, but they are still your family. You care about your family."

She sniffled quietly and didn't answer, and he sighed, rocking her gently back and forth in his arms, closing his emerald eyes.

"When we're done with this thing," he murmured quietly, "When we've helped Cat find Wrath and all that, we can go back to your home topside, alright? I think your dad would like to know where you've been and what you've been up to before you go running off again, 'kay?"

Nikki sniffed. "'Kay," she mumbled.

"Alright," he sighed, lifting his head to look down at her, a gentle smile on his face as she looked up, tears still glittering on her lashes and dampening her cheeks, but she didn't seem to be in full waterworks mode anymore at least. "Now, do you think you could manage one little thing for me and at least try to smile? Tears do nothing for your complexion, beautiful. You're still gorgeous and all that, but they're just not you."

She gave a weak smile as he brushed a few stray tears from her cheeks and heaved a deep sigh, vaguely wishing she hadn't gone into total meltdown like that, but suspecting it was better in coming sooner rather than later.

"Now you sit here," he told her quietly, gently slipping her off his lap and rising to his feet, "And I am going to pack our things, because I suspect Trinity will be coming to check on us soon to make sure we're making some kind of progress, and I'm sure she'll be more forgiving of whatever we've been up to if I have at least have a pack ready for our long venture into the Briars."

"Probably," Nikki agreed thickly, wiping at her still watery eyes and watching as Puck began to move around the room, pulling open drawers and the doors to his wardrobe and flinging a few articles of clothing on the bed.

No sooner had he gotten them all together, folding them neatly—much to Nikki's surprise—and placing them in a small pack he'd pulled from somewhere when she hadn't been paying close attention, then a very authoritative knock came down on the bedroom door, and Nikki and Puck swiveled their heads around to stare at it.

"Who be there?" called Puck idly, straightening as he stuffed the rest of his clothes into the pack and tied it shut.

"Room service," said a sarcastic voice from the other side, "Open up, Goodfellow."

Puck raised his fiery red eyebrows as he recognized Demon's voice, and exchanged a surprised look with Nikki as he sauntered on over and opened the bedroom door a crack to peer outside. Sure enough, the Cait Sith stood there, dressed in his black slacks and tunic, arms folded over his chest, and a rather bored look on his fair skinned face. His yellow-green eyes flickered to Puck's face through the crack in the door, and his silvery eyebrows shot up.

"Let me in," he said, and Puck blinked at him.

"What for?" the faery asked skeptically.

"Because I told you to, now move," said Demon with a sigh, actually stepping forward and shoving the door open, nearly knocking Puck to the floor in the process as he swept inside.

"Come on in, then," said Puck with a little snort of indignation, catching himself on the wall and casting a glare in Demon's direction as the Cait Sith stepped over the threshold, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Where's Cat?" Nikki asked, immediately taking note that her friend was not with Demon as the cat turned his yellow-green eyes on her.

"Asleep," he said simply.

"You know we're going soon, right?" Nikki asked him, looking a little surprised that he had failed to rouse his ward so far.

"I'm aware," he said dryly, seating himself on the edge of the bed, much to Puck's annoyance.

"Make yourself at home, too, why don't you?" the faery muttered under his breath, stalking across the room to his wardrobe and yanking a long cloak from it, throwing it around his shoulders.

Demon ignored him, and instead directed his attention to Nikki, briefly noting the tear stains on her cheeks and the slight redness of her swollen eyes, but deigning not to comment.

"I have something to discuss with you," he said to her, and she blinked at him, a little alarmed, "About Catherine."

"O-okay," she stammered, looking frantically to Puck, who had paused in the motion of slinging his pack across his shoulders to stare at Demon as well. "What about?"

"Sage," said Demon curtly, and Nikki's dark eyes widened.

"What about the Ice Prince?" asked Puck, sounding skeptical as he moved around the bed to join the other two.

Demon glanced over at Puck, as though contemplating not saying anything more with him in the room, but seemed to decide it was inconsequential and sighed.

"If you can keep your mouth shut," he told Puck very quietly, "You can stay. If not, then I will forcibly throw you from the room. Just keep that in mind, Goodfellow, I am not in any mood for your antics this morning."

"Alright, calm down," said Puck, putting his hands up in surrender, "I'll behave. You know I worry about Catherine as much as you do, even if you _are _her self-assigned bodyguard and all that."

"Silence is your friend right now, Goodfellow," Demon told him in a low voice, narrowing his yellow-green eyes.

Puck's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline, and he made a very big show of pretending to zip his lips up and throwing the key over his shoulder.

"What about Sage?" Nikki asked when Demon had turned back to her, her dark eyes wide with concern. "Is he here or something?"

"No, no, not at all," said Demon, shaking his head. "It is about last night."

Nikki tried to recall more about the Prince from the night before, touching on a few key points…his dance with Catherine, Catherine's tears…

"What about last night?" she asked cautiously.

"When he came in place of his brother to apologize," Demon said in a low voice, taking her by surprise, "It had me worried…"

"O-kay," she said, eyeing him in confusion. "Why? Isn't it _good _that he came to apologize for Rowan, since Rowan would probably sooner die than do it himself?"

"I would have thought so," Demon said slowly, measuring her rather hostile expression as he continued to speak, "But what is on your mind? You suddenly seem…touchy…"

Puck smirked. "Nervous now, kitty?" he asked in a slightly mocking voice.

"Puck," Nikki said, turning a small glare on him, "I think the lock broke, fix it."

He blinked at her for a moment, bewildered, then, as she cocked an eyebrow, comprehended her meaning, grinned, and once again zipped and locked his lips.

"You were saying," Demon prompted her when she turned back to him with a deep sigh. "Was there something else that happened last night that I missed?"

"You missed a lot, to be honest," Nikki told him, frowning slightly, "But as far as Sage goes, I was thinking of when he and Cat danced. Oberon made the recommendation because Sage is a royal in Mab's court and thought it would be a good idea if he danced with one of the ladies in the Summer Court. For whatever reason, Cat got picked, and they went out onto the dance floor and had their dance. But when it was over, he didn't let her go and they kept dancing while other couples went out on the floor, too. I didn't notice until a little later but…she was…crying…"

She faltered as she spoke, both because she didn't like to remember that she hadn't noticed beforehand that her friend was in some kind of trouble, but also because of the increasingly dangerous look appearing on Demon's face as the Cait Sith narrowed his yellow-green eyes to mere slits.

"Crying?" Demon inquired, his tone light, but Nikki felt herself shiver slightly at the gleam in his eyes.

"Yes," she said, frowning. "I don't know why, we tried to ask her last night, but she didn't answer. She said she would tell us what was up when she was ready, so we just left it at that."

Demon didn't respond, looking rather like he thought he might just say something indecent if he did, and took a few moments to think over what she'd just told him and breathe slowly through his nose. While he did that, Nikki exchanged a nervous look with Puck, who shrugged his shoulders, just as bemused as she was, as he watched the Cait Sith out of the corner of his emerald eyes.

"But you were talking about when he was in the room to apologize last night," Nikki said, speaking to Demon, hoping to pull him out of whatever thoughts he was lost in. "Why did that bother you?"

"Because she pulled in on herself when he was there," Demon said calmly, closing his eyes now, a frown on his face, "She didn't act like herself at all…it made me think of when she'd come back to Spindle's from the night at the Prince's Lodge. She was quiet, reclusive…and the only other time aside from last night and the day she returned to the healer's was when Sage was keeping up is in Tir Na Nog, in Mab's palace."

Nikki blinked at him, taken aback by his observations.

"So what are you trying to say?" Puck asked then, apparently not able to grasp the meaning of 'silence is your friend' as well as Demon had hoped, but this time the Cait Sith didn't seem to mind. "That she gets all demure when she's around Sage? Is that really so shocking? I mean, he's a Prince, after all, and a dashingly good looking one at that, even if he comes from a long line of bastards and bitches."

"Puck," said Nikki, shocked.

"Just telling the truth, beautiful, his family's history isn't quite as dazzling as their looks," Puck said, shrugging unapologetically.

"It's different, though," Demon sighed, shaking his head, ignoring the play-by-play. "I have seen Catherine act withdrawn before, more out of respect than anything else, but this is entirely different. I did contemplate at first it was just her natural shyness when confronted with new entities, but after seeing her interact with the courtiers here in Arcadia for two weeks I know it isn't the case."

"Then perhaps you could elaborate on that particular case," Puck invited him, cocking an eyebrow, "Because I'm a little lost."

"Me, too," Nikki admitted, though she was frantically trying to make sense of what Demon was telling them. "I mean…we know something's up with her because of Sage, she admitted that much two weeks ago when you asked. But I don't see how this all ties in."

"She stopped being able to sleep at night after we left Tir Na Nog after Sage had assisted us the first time," Demon said, his voice lowering and his words becoming quicker as he explained, "For a week after that she couldn't sleep at all, and when she finally got sleep, it was because she'd been with him and he had given her nightshade. After seeing him, she comes back and has a complete meltdown in front of all of us, though that could also be attributed to the fact that she finally got to rejoin with you after you arrived in the Nevernever. After that, we made our way to Arcadia, and she couldn't sleep without the nightshade, I discovered that then when she took out a vial Spindle had given her for the trip. She took it, but she had dreams afterwards, and that is not supposed to happen no matter the dosage of nightshade. One can stir in times of half waking, but there are not supposed to be dreams experienced once someone has taken nightshade, but she did, many of them nightmares, though I never prompted her on them as they had never been all that severe.

"After arriving here, she continued to need the nightshade. I observed her behavior around the courtiers just for comparison to how she had been with others we'd met—mainly Sage—and her behavior was entirely different. She was reserved, but not in the same way she was around Sage, even though many of the courtiers are of his age and either just as handsome or more so. Not only that, recently, even after she had taken a dose of nightshade, she suffered such a horrible nightmare she awoke from it screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night, and I stayed up to comfort her. She wouldn't tell me what it was about, but I had already been awake for some time and distinctly heard her say the Prince's name in her sleep. As for last night, not only have you just told me she started crying during her second dance with him when he refused to let her step away, but I also noticed she became that same kind of withdrawn and discomforted type of person when she realized he was in the room. Only until the point when she noticed him did she act fine, despite what had happened between her and Rowan, but when she noticed Sage there she immediately withdrew from us."

"And the point you are trying to make to us is what exactly?" asked Puck, getting a little annoyed. "That she's in love with him or something?"

He said it jokingly, but the moment the words left his mouth Nikki felt her heart freeze in her chest, and a soft gasp left her as her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and she gaped at Demon, horror in her gaze.

"That would make sense," she whispered, a hand going to her mouth, her mind filling with so many thoughts it was a wonder her brain didn't just pop from the exertion she was putting on it. "Oh, my God, why the _hell _didn't I even think of that…?!"

"Because it wouldn't have made sense," murmured Demon, while Puck stood to the side, looking stunned. "Why would she fall in love with him when all that has ever happened was he gave us shelter? When she has only seen him a couple of times?"

"But that's the entire reason she would," said Nikki, feeling her heart wrench as she thought of Catherine, dancing in Sage's arms, tears running down her face. "Because he took care of you guys. Even if he did it out of a favor that he owed you in exchange for a favor from you, it wouldn't matter to her. Well, it might have if he was a total ass to you guys, but everything you guys went ahead to tell us he was nice, the whole time that he took care of you both. And then…"

Her mind was working rapidly, her heart beating fast, her eyes still wide.

"Then," she murmured, "The night she was with him…I know she said he didn't touch her or anything—"

"She didn't say that," murmured Demon quietly, contradicting her, "She only said he didn't rape or assault her. That isn't to say he didn't lay a hand on her."

Nikki stared at him, now really scared.

"So, what do you think he did?" she asked Demon, a little defensively. "You really think he touched her?"

"I am not sure exactly what to think," he admitted softly, "Only that right now the evidence suggests that the night she was with him, she might have confessed her feelings and he could have very well and very easily turned her away."

"Then why would he bother her at Elysium like he did last night?" Puck inquired, sounding less than convinced. "She was the one who wanted to get away from him last night and he wouldn't let her. How do we know it's not the reverse?"

"I doubt someone who wasn't in love with someone else would spend nights awake until they took nightshade, not to mention the nightmares she has," Demon told him quietly. "And it could very well be that Sage is fascinated by her love for him, considering he considers himself something of an intellectual, making sense out of everything. If we are having trouble understanding why she would fall for him, he is probably baffled and is interested in making sense out of it, hence why he would harass her during the ball. And as for last night's apology, I sincerely doubt that Mab sent him to do that in Rowan's place. He probably came of his own volition to see her for himself."

"But why would he even bother?" Nikki asked, also a little confused on this particular issue. "His brother hurt her, so what is it to him other than an embarrassment?"

"He was probably testing her to see if she would react in the same way that she has in the past, despite the trauma of the night, and I'm afraid she gave him just what he wanted," Demon murmured, lowering his yellow-green eyes to the floor. "Because she _did _act as she always has around him. That probably told him all he wanted to know for the time being. And as for the crying during their dance, if he was trying to get her to answer questions and she wasn't answering, can't you imagine how upset she would have been at being cornered like that? Not being able to pull away unless she wanted to anger Mab and insult Oberon openly in front of the court? It's just the kind of position he would take advantage of to try and get his answers."

Nikki felt a low burn start somewhere in her gut and work its way up, working its way into her heart, farther up, until she gagged on the bile rising in her throat and had to swallow hard to fight back the surge of anger washing over her as she envisioned again the image of Catherine and Sage dancing together, and the Prince quietly threatening her friend, demanding answers, bringing Catherine to tears, unable to escape.

"Before we get ahead of ourselves," Puck said then, stepping forward with both hands out, palms up, a serious look on his face as he glanced between Demon and Nikki, "Why don't you just wait until Catherine talks to you instead of getting all worked up like this? She won't be happy to know you guys have been assuming shit like this when it might not even be the truth."

"Even if it isn't the truth," Nikki murmured, drawing the eyes of both Demon and Puck onto her, "He made her cry, Puck, you know I can't handle that kind of shit, especially when his brother ended up traumatizing her less than an hour after that. If Sonata hadn't been there for her, she would have been stuck with Sage for who knows how long until someone had finally gone to break them up."

Puck couldn't argue with that one bit, but he still felt a little uneasy about the assumptions and ideas Demon was spewing into the air. He could definitely see where the Cait Sith was coming from, sure, but that didn't mean he entirely supported the ideas. And what about Catherine? What would she think about all of this? No one knew this situation better than she did, and yet, even after her constant assurances that she would tell them what had happened when she was ready, here they sat, making stupid leaps to ideas that could easily be as fake as Dolly Parton's bosom.

"I won't argue that he was an ass, whatever he did to her last night," Puck told Nikki softly, taking a step forward and genuflecting in front of her, reaching out to take one of her hands, holding it gently in his, "Because I saw it, too, and since she's your friend, she's mine, too, but I really wish you'd think about how this would make Cat feel. You know her best, Nikki…Would she really want you worrying about something like this when it could be a load of superstitious crap?"

Nikki didn't have to answer that question aloud, because the answer was already so obvious. No, Cat wouldn't want them to worry about this…especially when she hadn't confirmed it for herself. But she also couldn't go and ask Catherine what had really happened or if this was true, because Catherine and her and Trinity had all reached the agreement that no one would bring up the issue of what had happened between her and Sage—if anything had happened at all—until Catherine decided to herself. Still, everything Demon had just told her made total sense now that she fit all the pieces together. Not to mention she couldn't get the image of Catherine and Sage dancing out of her mind, or even the imagined image of her friend locked away with Sage for that one night, alone…

Demon had at least made sure to reassure her that he doubted Sage had convinced Catherine to have sex with him, but he had also made her just as nervous by saying Sage could still have touched Catherine. She didn't entirely know what the Prince could have done in place of getting Catherine to come to bed with him, but she didn't really want to think about it… There were a thousand different ways to twist words around until you could say what they were doing without even making it sound remotely like that was what they'd done…

"I'll just…" She paused, and heaved a morose sigh. "I'll just wait until she tells me, then. I don't want her to think we cooked up some kind of drama behind her back…I'm not saying what you're saying is wrong, Demon"—she turned to the Cait Sith—"but I promised Cat I'd hear her out in the end, no matter what she has to say. That's the promise we all made, and I'm sticking by it. I can't feel good about myself thinking that this is what happened when she hasn't said it for herself."

Demon nodded slowly, understanding, his yellow-green eyes scrutinizing her expression as she looked back down into her lap, watching Puck's fingers twine with hers.

"But you think it's what happened, too," the Cait Sith murmured softly, causing Nikki to tense, "Now that I've said it, you see where it could become the truth…You don't want to assume it for several reasons, all of them understandable. You don't want to betray Catherine by thinking something that could be wrong, and you also don't want to think that her love for the Prince could be eating at her from the inside out like this…I've watched her, too, Nicolette, for almost four years. I know her well enough, though not as well as you. She hasn't loved anyone like she might love him, and that is what scares you thinking about it…"

Why did he have to be right, she wondered, bowing her head, her dark eyes black from worry. He hadn't even known Catherine as long as she had, or known her as long as he'd known Catherine, and yet he could reach that much from her…from both of them… Well, she thought, heaving a silent sigh, tightening her fingers around Puck's, finding some reassurance in his touch, at least she had the comfort of knowing now that she wasn't the only one aside from Trinity who might have a clue as to what Catherine might be feeling or thinking…Hadn't someone once said three heads were better than one?

"What do you want me to do about it?" she asked quietly, glancing sideways at the Cait Sith as he continued to sit there. "I've already decided I'm going to act like what you've suggested is just a guess from now until she tells me otherwise. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before you go? You _are _going to wake her up, right?"

"As soon as I leave, yes," Demon agreed, nodding his head slightly, "And there is just one other thing I would like to say, and that is don't let her put it off too long. The longer you let her push the issue back, the harder it will be for her when the time comes to put it out in front of you and Trinity. I know she trusts both of you, but she may have a harder time trusting herself…It's what's held her back thus far."

Nikki sat quietly for a moment, then nodded in understanding. Demon looked at her for another long moment, then glanced at Puck, who met his gaze steadily. With a small sigh, the Cait Sith rose to his feet and headed for the door without looking back. He didn't speak as he exited, closing the door quietly behind him, leaving Nikki and Puck alone in the room, lost in thought for a while.

Nikki couldn't think straight anymore. There were too many possibilities now filtering in and out of her head, and she couldn't seem to shut them out. It was like she was a TV resetting itself, flicking through every possible channel there was without being able to be stopped…

"Do you think he's right?" she asked after what seemed a long time, lifting her dark brown eyes to look into Puck's emerald ones.

Puck looked back at her, his expression a mixture of sympathetic and uncertain, and there was conflict in his emerald eyes as he watched her, thinking over his answer.

"I really don't know," he admitted after a moment, shrugging his lean shoulders, "What he says makes sense, but I don't want to go jumping to conclusions when Catherine is still working up to telling us. I think he's right to say not to let her keep pushing the issue away, and that at some point you're going to have put your foot down about it, but I don't think we need to go getting ideas in our heads when she hasn't even said anything about it herself other than the fact that Sage is somehow involved in all of it. It could be anything, Nikki…"

She nodded morosely, feeling drained all of a sudden, and bowed her head, sighing tiredly.

"Come on," Puck murmured, rising to his feet, tugging gently at her hand to push her into action, "We need to pack your things, too, before Trinity comes looking for us."

"I wonder if he's told Trinity," she murmured thoughtfully, rising to her feet as well and letting him lead the way out of his bedroom.

"He probably will, if he hasn't already," Puck guessed, leading her the ten feet down the hallway to her door and pushing it open. "She's just as much a part of this as we are, and it wouldn't make sense for him to keep this from her. Catherine's her friend, too."

Nikki nodded her agreement as she followed him into the room, allowing him to settle her on the bed again while he went about gathering the necessary things she would need for the trip, feeling currently too confused and uncertain to do it herself. To think, the morning had started with such fun and promise, and now they hadn't even gotten out of the castle and already things were looking more complicated and daunting than she'd first thought they would. And they hadn't even gotten to the Briars yet…

"This is going to be a long day," she muttered to herself, dropping her face into her hands.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey, everyone. Let me first offer my deepest apologies for such lateness. It's a hard thing keeping up with life once it's run you over a couple of times. =P But, hopefully, from here on out it won't be so darn difficult updating this for you all, and I would promise to do better, except I'll be starting work soon, and I am sure we all know the kind of chaotic mishaps that tend to occur amongst work. But enough of my incessant rambling. I present to you Chapter 28 of the Iron Fey—which is to be immediately followed by 29 as an apology update for missing almost 3 weeks of updates. Enjoy!**

When Demon had gotten back to the room he shared with Catherine, it was to find her already awake, though somewhat groggy, sitting up in bed, knees drawn up to her chest, arms around her legs, and her chin resting on her knees, gazing tiredly ahead of her, her jade eyes slightly hazy even as she fixed them on him. Pausing in the doorway, blinking in surprise at her, he felt another jolt of amazement when she gave him a small smile.

"Morning," she murmured quietly.

"Good morning," he echoed just as quietly, stepping over the threshold of the room and closing the door softly behind him. "I didn't think you would be awake…"

"The nightshade isn't that strong," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"It should be," he sighed, moving forward, his expression rather drawn. "Even a small dose should be enough…"

"Maybe I'm building up immunity to it," she said.

She tried to make it a joke, but the flash of warning in Demon's eyes told her he didn't think her suggestion at all amusing, and she lowered her jade eyes to the coverlets as he drew level with the bed, feeling an uncomfortable pull in her stomach.

"If you are," the Cait Sith said softly, lowering himself onto the edge of the bed alongside her, his yellow-green eyes narrowed and fixed solely on her face, "Then we will have even more problems to contend with. We are fortunate that so far you seem to be immune to gaining an addiction to the nightshade, but building immunity to it is just as bad."

"Why would it matter?" she asked quietly, glancing up at him from under lowered lashes.

"Because then we would have to increase the dosage," he said, "And while your system may be growing resistant to the effects of it, enough of a dose to try and bring back those effects could be enough to kill you. I'd rather like to avoid murdering you by way of nightshade poisoning if it's all the same to you. I'm tempted to take you off of it completely, but I don't see how that would be any better, since we both know full and well you can't manage even an hour's worth of sleep without taking it."

She winced at the harshness in his voice as he continued to speak, knowing he was angry. And he had every right to be, really. She'd put herself in this position to begin with, and he hadn't really known—though he'd definitely known longer than anyone else aside from her—but she hadn't been honest with him straight off the bat until he'd seen her take it seemingly ages ago the night they'd left Spindle's. If he hadn't been awake to see it, she probably wouldn't have even bothered to tell him, either, just like she'd neglected to tell Trinity and Nikki about it until just the night before. And speaking of the night before, she might have a word with the healer about his confidence in his medicinal abilities. He had told her she'd be fine by morning, and she had taken that to mean all pain would be gone, save perhaps the occasional twinge and a bit of stiffness, but she doubted in any way, shape or form that he had meant she would be suffering spasms of burning intermittently, because that was just what she was experiencing. Her shoulder ached and throbbed and burned, and though it didn't have quite the potency of the night before when it had been a fresh wound, she no more welcomed the pain than she had last night.

Just straightening up hurt, and as she did so, trying to better enable herself to meet Demon's narrowed yellow-green eyes, she winced as pain lanced up the right side of her back. And the Cait Sith noticed it, too.

"What is wrong?" he asked, his tone sharp.

She had really been hoping he would just ignore it…So much for that…

"My back just hurts, it's not anything big," she said evasively, hoping to dissuade him from further argument when she could already tell from the few seconds he'd spent in the room that he was not in a good mood today. Apparently that also meant he was prone to nagging, since all he seemed to hear in her sentence was 'my back hurts'.

"It shouldn't," he said, though he didn't sound like he believed his own words as he rose to his feet and stepped closer to her, giving him more of a few to where the puncture wounds from the night before were still very much in evidence, and the crystallized salve the healer had administered had all but disappeared, save a few stray fragments still attached over the more vicious of the wounds.

His eyes narrowed as he leaned closer, his nose twitching automatically, trying to sense what perhaps his eyes couldn't—aside from the sight of her skin being rather red and aggravated. Her wounds seemed no better than they had twenty-four hours ago, though some of them had at least mended together, leaving only the faintest of scabs that would be sure to vanish within another few days if not earlier, but it bothered him that not all of them had taken the same route to healing. The worst ones were still open and he could scent traces of fresh blood, though at least nothing had started to openly bleed. But that didn't matter. She should have been fine, and she obviously wasn't.

"Nightshade, injuries, incapable healers," he growled under his breath, feeling his temper ignite as he listed everything that seemed to be going wrong today, and mentally noting the ones he didn't dare speak aloud.

Demon had once prided himself on his patience, feeling it could stretch to the ends of the earth and back if need be, and he was not easily angered by trivial matters, or even by the matters that were not so trivial. Like the rest of his kind, he at least had the aged patience that centuries of experience had given him, but he was starting to notice that more and more he was losing that patience. It did not quite stretch as far as he felt it once had, and though he suspected he knew very well just what the reason behind the shortening of his fuse was, he didn't dwell on it too immensely. Even if he could realize and comprehend the issue behind his shortening temper, he couldn't very well take time to attempt to deal with it, at least not as things were currently. He had too many other things to worry about.

Catherine becoming immune to nightshade, what they would do if she did end up immune and what it would mean… Then there was the small but irritating fact that her wounds should have been well healed after a night of rest and they weren't for whatever reason. And, of course, he wasn't exactly in the most cheerful of moods after his talk with Nicolette and Puck, though that was his own fault and no one else's. He had already been annoyed as he had laid awake, waiting for everyone else to rouse themselves, and pondered over the possibilities between Sage and Catherine, and the progression of the morning so far had not done anything to better his mood. He really just wanted to claw at something, just give it a really good swipe and take it out…he wanted to hunt, for the sake of doing something to vent his frustration and anger, but right now that wasn't an option, not only because he currently didn't have any claws to speak of but because he had other things to be doing that would be a better expenditure of his energy and time and might just help alleviate his stress and frustration.

Heaving a sigh, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, feeling his temple begin to pulse horridly at the onset of a migraine, he lifted his yellow-green eyes to Catherine's face, which seemed rather pale and tired despite her restful night and supposed healing. She didn't look at all well, he thought, a frown coming to his face. She looked ill, if anything. So there was another concern. Not only was the nightshade not holding her down as long as it should but it also seemed to not be giving her the deep sleep she needed when she _was _asleep. He didn't want to admit it, but he was very sure that what she had suggested was true. After taking the nightshade for nearly a month straight, Catherine was beginning to be able to resist its healing and sleep inducing effects.

"You look worried," Catherine commented idly, tilting her head to look at him, her copper hair falling over one shoulder, glinting in the early morning sunlight that filtered in through the windows.

"I am worried," he said quietly. "If anything could go wrong, it already seems to be doing so, and the last thing we need today is bad luck…"

"I didn't think you believed in luck," she said, a small smile curving her mouth.

"Before now, I didn't," he admitted with another deep sigh, settling himself down on the bed again, letting his weary eyes close for a moment, "But you humans seem to bring a whole new element to life, including your luck. Faeries don't need luck, we have skill. You humans built up luck and you bring it with you wherever you go, and it can be good or bad. So far this morning, I'll I'm seeing is bad, so that other little mental malady you like to dote on, called karma, ought to deliver us a good hand before the day is out."

"I'm sure she will," said Catherine with a little giggle, reaching out to pat his silvery head as he dropped it tiredly against her knee. "She might take a while, but she always delivers."

Demon gave a rather derisive snort and didn't lift his head, resting it on Catherine's knees, letting weariness overwhelm him for just a brief moment, acknowledging everything that was running through his head, giving him reason to worry. It was funny, he reflected, how—though he knew he'd been odd from his birth onwards—he at least had had some semblance of normalcy in the fact that he never ventured close to humans. He'd always kept his distance from them, only observing from afar, if he entertained himself to observe them at all. Humans had never really fascinated him. He had viewed them as every other Cait Sith in his world viewed them. The playthings of the fey, not really of consequence except in their dangerous imaginings that could easily bring their death as well as their life since man had finally ventured into the imaginings of a technological future.

The only difference that had distinguished him from the other Cait Sith in his lineage had been that disbelief that everything the fey did should be done for exchanged favors or oaths. That oneself was more important than the masses. He had been called compassionate and strange, sympathizing for others rather than caring for his own self and seeing to his own needs. Of course, he'd never really gone out of his way to help the odd man out, just sitting to one side and offering his apologies, much to the disgrace of his other relatives.

But three years ago had changed him…He had added a new oddity into his already full arsenal of enigmatic traits. In just a moment, he had gone from being a spectator to a participant, and had finally breached that gap between observer and assistant. He had done the unthinkable and approached a human…

A girl, a child by the standards of his people, as she sat on the porch of her home, entertaining the fancies of a common feline of the Mortal Realm, and she had seen him. She had fascinated him, intrigued him to the point that he answered her soft beckoning calls to join her and the other feline, who hadn't even appeared to notice him at all as he'd approached. He had sat beside her, listening to her talk, becoming more and more intrigued by her every passing moment, until he found himself returning—not just every week—but every day, every hour, every minute, standing on the corner of her yard, waiting for the moment she might appear. He had realized how foolish he had been to act in such a way, knowing just what the others might say of him, but he knew he had heard worse about him said before, and would be sure to hear it again. And he had never given particular care to what his family thought of him. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion, no matter how misconstrued the others might believe it to be, and his opinion was that he was free to do what he wished, and he had done just that.

He had returned to that dwelling for three solid years, keeping her company, enjoying hers in spite of himself. At times he had even allowed her to pet him, even climbed into her lap and napped there until she was called away, and then he would sit outside and wait for her to come back, finding a kind of strange pleasure in how her face lit up when she saw that he was still there, waiting. And the fact that he had waited at all was what really caught him off guard. Cats waited for no one, whether they were Cait Sith or simple mortal pets, and he had never been an exception to that particular rule of felines. Yet he had found himself doing just that. Waiting. And he had enjoyed waiting, knowing she would light up like always to find him there.

Three years had gone by like that, and she even had endured punishment at times for spending so much time with him that she neglected to do her other required chores in the house. But she never seemed to really mind, or pay much notice to the threat of being disciplined again, because she would always return and do the exact same thing numerous times over again. But then, three years later, and one day she hadn't been there. He'd gone to the house, and waited, but she had never appeared. At first, he had considered she might be away at a friend's and would return. She had returned, but she had not been in the spirits he would have imagined or hoped for. When she had come back, charioted along in that mechanical nightmare of a vehicle that humans used, she had disembarked, unloaded her things and carried them inside. She had come back out and sat on the porch, and he had gone to meet her, recognizing the signal when he saw it, and purred his usual welcome as he trotted up the steps to her, but she had not given him the usual reciprocated greeting. Rather than smiling and speaking soft, gentle words to him, offering her hand so he might give her permission to stroke his head, she had taken one look at him and broken into silent tears. He had not understood what could possibly have made such a change in her, as he had only ever once seen her in such a state before, but that, at least, had made sense. She had been in a fight with her mother that particular instance, but this was strange to him.

It became even stranger when her mother also appeared on the steps, looking just as tearful, though she made a better show of controlling herself, and set herself down and hugged her daughter. They had cried for a while like that, until her mother had finally risen and, upon leaving said, "College isn't as scary as you think, sweetheart, and I know you'll do wonderfully. And it isn't forever."

Demon didn't know a lot about human educational institutions, but he knew enough. And on hearing that, he had known more than enough. College… Another higher level, mandated education that did nothing more than breed a new generation of brain washed "intellectuals" out of the once imaginative children they sent there. Demon had not only been shocked at the discovery, he had been horrified, something he rarely ever experienced. He had not imagined in the three years that he had been going to see Catherine—the three years he'd been her companion—that she was reaching that age. And it was part of the reason he had remained intrigued by her. Her age should have blinded her to his existence, but it hadn't, and now she was weeping for the loss she knew was coming. Knowing she wouldn't see him again.

At that point, if he had been a wise cat, he would have let it go. He knew well how human children grew up and became adults, blind and ignorant to his kind's existence, and he should have let go knowing that Catherine—though unique in her time—would do the same. But he had never considered himself all that wise…

The day that she had left for college, he had been there to say his temporary goodbye, dutifully waiting on the porch as he watched her family struggle to load her belongings in the storage end of their car, and when she'd come up to him he'd purred and let her stroke his head, letting her cry. He'd even allowed her to pick him, the first time in three years, and cry into his fur. He shouldn't have let her, really, not only because it would have been a shameful sight for any other fey to witness, but also because he knew she was the only one who could see him. Fortunately, her family had been so preoccupied with their packing that they hadn't noticed their daughter standing on the porch, hugging a seemingly non-existent cat to her and crying.

Eventually, she'd put him down, telling him she wouldn't see him anymore and he should probably find someone else to look out for him, since she wouldn't be there for a long time. He'd simply purred and sat at the top of the steps as she'd walked away from him, still in tears, to climb into the car beside her brother—who had joined the rest of the family for the "great celebration"—and as they all drove away she'd turned to look at him through the back window, and he had continued to sit there, long through the day and into the night, hours after she had gone and even after the family had returned, contemplating his next step.

He had taken a while to find her again, but he had managed. There were only so many colleges in the world, and it hadn't been particularly difficult once he'd gotten into her deserted bedroom and discovered a few pamphlets lying on the floor, giving him at least a decent lead to where she'd gone. He'd had to go back into the Nevernever to find the appropriate trod, which had also taken some considerable time, but he had done it. Of course, he'd almost immediately regretted the decision as soon as he'd arrived in the city she was living, as the place was not so much sprawling countryside like he was used to her inhabiting but a great city with towering skyscrapers of metal and glass, and just the smell of the place had made him nauseous. But if there was anything a Cait Sith was known for, it was perseverance, though many preferred to call it thick headedness. He had spent the next five days looking for her on that heaven forsaken plot of land they called a college campus, lucky enough to discover in that time that there were at least three different trods located at intervals around the place. Though he had guessed it, he'd never really considered a college campus as a great place for fey to go looking for a glamour binge, but when he'd spent one of his nights wandering around he had discovered it was just the kind of place to find enough glamour to intoxicate a whole herd of Minotaur. Drunk and high college students made for excellent targets as far as glamour reaping went, and he had soon learned as well that rowdy fraternity boys were apparently a yoko's best friend. The fox eared females had been all but sexually assaulting a group of the human males when Demon had happened past them one night.

The boys had been drunk to beat the band, and the yoko's had been having a field day, siphoning off their glamour and being rather indecent, so Demon considered it sheer luck that no one could see them, or they'd all probably turn away in shame, though a few phouka who had also been present had been making a pretty good show of hooting and howling their approval from across the way as they watched. But he hadn't been too keen on any of the other fey that had been wandering around the campus, after five days there, and a night spent searching, he had found her.

To his great relief and fortune, she had been outside. To be honest, though he knew he could tolerate being inside one of the buildings of concrete and metal, he'd been hoping to avoid it, and his hopes had been answered. He had followed her trail from halfway across the entire campus, a good thirty minutes away, not wanting to evaporate and lose the scent, to where he'd discovered her outside, lounging on a bench that was situated just near a little algae covered pond, idly throwing bread crumbs to the ducks and geese that were making their home there. She had been alone, and that had concerned him somewhat. It had been near midnight, after all, and he had just passed the rowdy fraternity boys, yet she didn't seem at all bothered by being so vulnerable, even when she heard the howls and whistles of her follow collegiate members growing closer, only sparing a glance for them before returning to her nighttime hobby. Demon hadn't immediately run up to her, knowing that wouldn't be a wise decision in any form. After all, he was supposed to be miles away, back outside her home, a perfectly normal street cat.

He couldn't expect her to take his appearance well when there would be no very good explanation for how he had gotten there, and only in three days. So he had lain in wait, crouched among the tall grass, watching her slowly empty her bag of crumbled up bread as she continued to feed the birds. She didn't speak or really make a sound the entire time he watched, though occasionally she would glance around as a sound echoed through the night, but didn't seem to really pay much mind to anything else otherwise. At one point, a boy had passed them, making his way back to his own dwelling, and though neither he nor she spoke a word to one another, and she had barely seemed to notice his presence, Demon hadn't failed to notice the youth give her quite the interested look as he'd passed. He had even seemed to be on the verge of pausing to say something when something seemed to stop him as he looked at Catherine, and after a moment's hesitation, frozen behind the bench where she sat, he had shaken himself rather vigorously, glanced around, and quickly hurried away, as though frightened off by something.

It had been a very strange instance, and Demon had also looked about, just to see if some other fey or creature was lurking nearby to scare of the young suitor, but he hadn't been able to sense anything. He had returned to his watching duties, sitting there for nearly a half hour in total stillness, watching Catherine. And she hadn't once looked up, always gazing down into the black water of the pond, idly throwing out more crumbs until her bag was completely empty. And still she sat there, her jade eyes rather dull, as though she were fatigued, but Demon sensed something else about her, a kind of weariness that had nothing to do with her current state of exertion towards her studies. She was wilting, he realized, watching her lean back against the bench, a frown on her face, and her eyes fluttering shut for a moment as she sighed, her first real sound to be made within the past hour.

Just like a flower in the dead of winter, she was wilting away being here. She was slowly withering, her energy draining. He could feel it just from where he sat, watching her, remembering the way she had been at her home. Lively and cheerful, ready to take on anything and yet here she was dying inside. With a pang, he realized she was dying inside. Not a physical death, but an emotional ceasing to be. It was there in the slump of her shoulders, and the paleness of her face, and the way she sighed as she slowly rose to her feet, weariness in her every movement as she gathered the now empty bag and tossed it into a nearby bin.

He had remained hidden as she moved away from the pond, his yellow-green eyes narrowed intently, calculating everything about her. She had been moving past him, not able to see him for the grass around him, when she had suddenly paused, and he had stiffened, briefly wondering if he'd been discovered, but she hadn't looked at him. Instead, she'd lifted her head and looked out across the small pond, towards the opposite bank, where trees stretched on almost endlessly, an untouched forest on the edge of a metropolis. He had seen longing in her jade eyes as she'd looked at that dense foliage, but the thing that had really gotten him was that as he followed her gaze, he had seen what she couldn't possibly hope to. There, just across the way, exactly where she was looking, had been one of the trods he had discovered earlier in his five day venture. And she was staring at it without seeing it, and yet somehow he knew she could sense it. In the back of her mind, or in the depth of her soul, she knew it was there, a passageway no mortal could ever have a dream of uncovering, but she could sense its presence. Maybe she didn't know what it meant, what the nagging feeling inside of her was, but he did.

That was when he'd first suspected she was different, and he had explored it from there. He had abandoned his first goal of letting her know of his presence there at her school, instead always remaining hidden, following her at a distance, just out of sight. Knowing that even if his glamour was enough to keep other humans from seeing him, it wouldn't be enough to keep her from doing so. Of course, this had prevented him from following her into her classes, but he had found other useful ways of sticking near, observing her. Occasionally, he'd seated himself in windows, just out of sight of her, but still able to keep a watchful eye on her progress and activities.

It had been that way for a week, and though she pretended she was perfectly well around her human friends, he had seen differently. Even humans gave off glamour, it was what kept the fey coming back for more and what kept the Nevernever alive, and Catherine had been no different, except the longer that Demon had watched her fumble her way through the world of collegiate society, the dimmer and duller the glamour had become around her. There was always the occasional flare of it whenever she might spot something to catch her attention, but generally it remained low, barely visible or tangible, unless she ventured off to her place by the pond and sat there, and even then it wasn't as bright as it should have been, barely enough to nurse a newborn piskie on.

Demon continued to watch her, making his observations, finally making conclusions, and then he had decided on a real test. By that time, he'd suspected she was different, not just human different, but _other _different. His kind of different…

He had wanted to see if his suspicions were correct. He had finally approached her one night as she sat by the pond, just past twilight. She didn't feed the ducks today, and apologized to the birds as they flocked her hopefully, squawking expectantly, and saying that she hadn't had enough money left over that week to get any bread for them. Eventually, the pesky winged rats had left her alone, swimming off to their respective ends of the pond, leaving her alone on the bench, watching the shadows lengthen across the ground, and he had stepped forward, experimenting with another idea and keeping his glamour up, just to see if she could still see him, or if she'd become blind. She hadn't seemed to notice him at first, fixating on a water bug as it skittered over the very surface of the water, and he had been a little doubtful that she was the same person he had known just a week or so ago. But he hadn't been ready to quit. Reaching the edge of the bench and still without a reaction from her, he had settled himself down on his haunches, ignoring the unpleasant moistness of the ground beneath him, lifted his head and given a rather loud meow.

She had immediately looked around, startled, and her jade eyes had fixed right on him. She had stared at him a moment, uncomprehending, and he had cocked his head at her, mewing again, just to ensure she was actually looking at him. Her reaction had been one of the most amusing he had ever remembered seeing. For a moment, she'd continued to sit there, staring at him, her jade eyes wide and disbelieving, then she had glanced around, as though to check whether or not someone else might be standing nearby or watching them, then glanced back down at him, eyes narrowing, and leaned down over the edge of the bench towards him.

He had continued to sit there as she looked him over, only once blinking his large yellow-green eyes at her and purring softly as she straightened back up, her mouth slightly open.

"You," she had said softly, and he had felt the most glorious sweeping relief.

He'd mewed again, alighting onto the bench and settling next to her, still purring, and waited patiently as she gently offered her hand to him. He'd given it a sniff, touched his nose to her palm, and allowed her to pat his head. A split second later, she was crying, and he had expected that. He'd climbed into her lap and settled there, and let her cry into his fur, like she had when she'd left. It had gone on like that for quite a while, perhaps a half hour, and he had felt at least slightly glad that no one else had happened by at that time, because they probably would have thought her insane, and that was the last thing she needed someone to be considering her in her current habitat.

When she had finally calmed down, she'd straightened up and muttered an apology, saying how she couldn't really believe it was him, and asking how he'd gotten all the way there in just a week. Of course, she hadn't been expecting him to answer, but he had decided to begin the real fun of the test.

"Well, it's quite the long story, actually," he said lightly, and she'd frozen stiff, halfway to wiping the tears from her eyes, "And to be honest I don't think you would believe me at this point, just like how I seriously doubt you honestly believe that I am talking to you. You think I am a figment of your imagination now, or that some human nearby is throwing his or her voice to confuse you. I can assure you this is not the case. We are quite alone and I can talk very well on my own."

Slowly, she turned to stare at him, her jade eyes beyond enormous, her mouth agape.

"Please don't scream," he said wearily, contemplating her expression with his yellow-green eyes. "It is bad enough that you are the only human thus far I've encountered outside the age of four who can still see me, and it will do you no good to go running about screaming about talking cats, particularly when no one can see the cat of which you speak."

She continued to stare, then quickly glanced around to ensure no one was there, then heaved an enormous sigh and turned away from him, pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes.

"The cat is talking," she muttered to herself, "I've got to be dreaming."

"You are not dreaming," he informed her calmly, "I have always been able to talk, I merely refused to do so. If I had unveiled my true nature to you sooner, I imagined you would have been quite prone to ignoring me for the rest of your life, or pretended that the incident had never happened and insisted on treating me like the common house cat you doted on three years ago before he passed away."

"Oh, my God," Catherine groaned, now bending over so her forehead was on her knees, still with her hands covering her face, "This is so insane…"

"Please listen to me, Catherine," he said, and she jerked at the sound of her name, "I know this is outrageous and beyond everything you have been taught to accept and believe, but it is the truth. Would you prefer if I were in human form? Would that make it more acceptable?"

She sat up quickly, turning her enormous jade eyes on him, shock evident in her face.

"You can take human form?" she asked, sounding stunned.

He blinked. "You recovered very quickly from the fact that I can talk," he observed, amusement coloring his voice.

"I'm still…" She hesitated, swallowing hard as though she had something lodged in her throat, "I'm still working on that…uh…"

"Why don't we start somewhere simple," he said, settling down on the bench, "Like the beginning?"

"And where would we begin?" she asked, still looking uncertain, as though she wasn't entirely convinced that this was really happening to her.

"With a very simple question, as old as time," he said, "Do you believe in magic?"

"Magic?" She blinked down at him, bemused. "Uh…like…wizards and witches?"

"Like faeries and fey," he said softly, watching as her eyes widened even more, if that was actually possible, "Unicorns, dragons, piskies—though you're kind get the name all wrong and call them "piksies"—kelpies, redcaps…the list goes on. That kind of magic."

"Oh, uh…" She frowned at him. "I…don't really know…"

"You don't know," he said, really amused now. "You are sitting here talking to an invisible cat that has the basic elements of human speech and you don't know if you believe in magic?"

"Are you going to tell me you're magical, then?" she asked, sounding a little defensive.

"You have read Alice in Wonderland, have you not?" he inquired, twitching the tip of his tail.

"I've…seen the movie," she said off handedly. He snorted.

"That will have to do, then," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "You remember the Cheshire Cat, I imagine."

"Yes," she said, nodding. "He used to be my favorite character…kind of still is."

"Well, then, you will love this," Demon said, and with a deliberate wave of his tail, he evaporated. Catherine squeaked in alarm, scooting away along the bench until she nearly fell off the other end, both hands over her mouth, her green eyes huge as she stared around her, looking for him.

"Over here," he called lightly, appearing on the back of the bench, enjoying the way she gasped in disbelief. "Or perhaps…" He evaporated over to a spot some thirty feet away, near the edge of the pond. "Over here?"

"Holy crap," Catherine moaned, staring at him as he evaporated and reappeared once more, this time back onto the bench beside her. "Just…holy crap…"

"Now, I will ask again," he said, settling down on his haunches, his tail folded over his paws, "Do you believe in magic?"

"I'm starting to," she said faintly.

"Good enough," he sniffed. "Now, why do you come here every day?"

"What?"

"Why do you come here every day?" he repeated patiently, "What drives you to come here? You are not required to visit this place every day of the week, but you come anyway. Do you know why? If you do not, simply say so."

"I don't know," she admitted, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well, then, do you know why you continue to look at that spot over there?" he asked, gesturing with his tail towards where the trod still stood, hidden from mortal eyes but very obvious to his own.

"Uh…" She glanced over at it, a frown on her face and shook her head. "No, I don't…I just…I guess I just kind of do it without thinking. Look, what are you getting at?"

"That you have a reason for being here," he said calmly, "And you have an even better reason for looking over there like you do. I will explain as best I can in a summarized version, otherwise it will take too long. I have just shown you that I am part of a different world, a different race. I am fey. I know you have heard of them, but perhaps by different names like the ones I listed just earlier. They all exist. You may decide later this was all a concoction of your homesick mind and if you do then that is your choice. But what I am telling you now is the truth. The fey exist, hidden from human eyes, in a world separate from this one, but still connected to it. We fey can venture here to the mortal world at times, and then return home—others are banished but that is an altogether different matter. I myself am free to return to the fey world whenever I please, but for the past three years have spent time in your world. You do not enjoy your world. I can see that as clearly as I can see my paws in front of me. And here, away from your home and your family, you wilt even more the longer you stay in this world.

"You do not know why, though, having watched you for three years, hearing you talk of how you have never felt like you belong, I have come to a conclusion of my own. Hear me or not, this is what I believe. Every now and again, some idle minded fey will venture into your world, interested in the ways of humans, and become fascinated by a particular mortal in general. Often times it does not lead anywhere, but sometimes that fey will take such interest in a human that they will join for a short time, whether for a night or for a few short months or even years. Such relationships are frowned upon, but not forbidden, and occasionally from that union comes a child. Half mortal, half fey. Half of the mortal realm and half of the fey world, the Nevernever. It is my belief, Catherine, that having watched you as long as I have, that you might just be one such child, trapped in the human world by birth, but seeking our world, the fey world, by blood."

Any sane human, any blind human, would have gotten up and walked away, cursing and violence towards him completely optional, but Catherine had not. She had not even said he was insane or that he was lying. She had simply sat there, staring ahead of her, staring at that one spot she always did, towards the trod. And he waited, watching her watch that door, wondering if she could maybe just start to make out the frame of it, even if she didn't really know what it looked like, just imagining the outline of that door to the other world.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked quietly after a very long time spent in silence.

She didn't look at him as she spoke, instead continuing to stare ahead of her, but he didn't need her to look at him.

"Because I feel you have the right to know," he murmured softly, his yellow-green eyes narrowing. "Many half bloods never discover their differences, and live perfectly normal lives here in the Mortal Realm with their mortal families, but that is not what you are doing. You are wilting here, Catherine, I have seen it for myself. You only feel joy when you are here, alone, isolated, or when you can hear the voice of your mother or brother or your friends speaking on the phone. Never another time. The longer you stay here, the more I feel you will become withdrawn. I have watched over you for three years, and I have seen how you live, how you flourish, what gives you happiness. I am not saying you will find everything you seek if you come to the fey world, if you should choose to do so at all, but if I do not offer that chance I fear you might fade away in this world, lost in the monotony and dullness of a mortal life that isn't suited for you."

"So you'd take me to the other world," she said quietly, her tone thoughtful, as though she were trying to process all he was saying, "But I could come back if I don't want to be there?"

"Yes," he murmured.

"And how do I know you mean that?" she asked, turning to look at him, hesitancy in her jade eyes.

"Because we fey cannot do the one thing you mortals can above all else, even if at times we might wish it," he said, "And that is to lie. Fey cannot lie. It goes against all we revere and know. What purpose is there in a lie? To deceive and betray. We fey have no such desires. We honor our word. It is who we are. Lies are for mortals who fear the truth. The fey know no such fear. The truth is all we understand."

Catherine gazed at him through jade eyes, and he could see the conflicts raging deep in those green depths. She wasn't sure if she trusted him, or if she trusted herself, or if she should even believe a single thing that was happening, but he could see in her eyes that she did, because she couldn't believe anything else. Everything he was telling her made sense to her…but apparently he'd missed one thing.

"So, if I'm a half blood," she said softly, "Is my mother actually my mother…or…?"

"She is most certainly your birth mother, yes," he said, nodding, "I could sense it when the two of you were together. She is the woman who gave birth to you, though I doubt somehow if she would remember the man who fathered you. We fey are easily forgotten, though you seem to have a remarkable talent of having people remember you even after you have vanished. Even when only in passing, you seem to make it so people do not forget you. But, as I said, it is unlikely that your mother would remember your father. You have the blood of a fey, but the impressionability of a human."

"I want to find him," Catherine said at once, and Demon felt stunned by her words.

"You must be mad," he said, not quite catching himself in time.

"You don't say," she said sarcastically, turning a half hearted glare on him, "I'm talking to a cat no one else can see, I'm being told by aforementioned cat that I am apparently not who I have been raised to believe I am, I keep staring at a door everyday that I can't actually see, and it might do me some good to walk through said door and see how I like a completely different world I knew nothing about until five minutes. No kidding I might be mad. Any other totally obvious observations you'd like to make while you're on a roll?"

She arched a brow at him, and it was all he could do to keep back a feline sneeze of laughter.

"Very well," he sighed, shaking his head and flicking his black tail, "You have made your point. But, Catherine, the Nevernever may sound magical and mystical, but it is also dangerous. A half blood like you is not always a welcome thing, and even if you were full blooded fey there are creatures beyond the door of the trod that could do you immense harm. Not to mention that leaving suddenly could leave your mother in a panic trying to find you."

Catherine paused at his words, realizing the truth in them, and bit down nervously on her lip as she thought back over her plans.

"I really hadn't thought about that," she muttered, casting her eyes downwards to the edge of the pond. "And mom's paying for me to be in school right now…it wouldn't be fair to just up and leave…and she'd be so worried…Not to mention my landlord would go nuts if I vanished like that, not paying my rent."

"That contract is easily dealt with," said Demon dismissively, "Your landlord is fey, if I speak with him, he will understand."

"Say what now?" Catherine asked, rounding on him, stunned.

"Your landlord," Demon repeated patiently, "He is a fey in disguise, living among you humans. I dare say he was banished some time ago, or he just really enjoys hanging around. Whatever the reason, I can speak with him and take care of the matter of your contract."

"Oh ho," moaned Catherine, dropping her head into her hands, looking suddenly fatigued. "Jesus…You guys are everywhere, aren't you?"

"Of course we are," Demon said, sniffing. "We are just invisible is all, though I dare say you have quite the eye for a certain group of fey. The day you say me three years ago, you weren't supposed to at all."

"I wasn't?" she asked, sounding confused. "Why? You were sitting right there at the edge of the driveway."

"Glamour," he said simply, "Our form of magic. We can use it to disguise ourselves as humans, morph into a power that can be used in defense or offense, or turn ourselves invisible. Cait Sith in particular have a knack for invisibility, but you managed to see through my cloak. If you hadn't, we would not even be having this conversation."

"Fair point," she sighed, running her hands over her face. "Okay, so…you're saying that I can see invisible cats and that's it?"

"I wish you'd stop using that barbaric term," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Until further notification, refer to me and my brethren as Cait Sith, as that is what we are. And, yes, you seem only able to see Cait Sith. Other fey have walked right by you and you haven't even acknowledged them, so it leads me to believe you can only see those of my heritage."

"But why?" she asked, frowning. "Why only cat—Cait Sith? Why not other fey?"

"Ah, now that is a very interesting question," Demon murmured, narrowing his yellow-green eyes up at her. "And, before I confirmed you were half blood, I really had no accurate answer. The only thing I have managed to conceive of is that you are, perhaps, descended from a line of Cait Sith. Of course, that would be rare beyond imagining, as we Cait Sith have never been known to mingle with you humans in any sort of manner, aside from the occasional odd one like myself who spent three years in your company, but a coupling between human and Cait Sith is simply unheard of. However, it is the only logical explanation I can think."

"Logical?" Catherine asked, sounding amused, "A fey trying to be logical? That's funny…"

"Quite the shrewd mortal, aren't you?" he asked, snorting and flicking his tail against her arm. "But if you're quite down making jibes at me, I suggest we get to the problem of dealing with your mother. Your landlord is easy enough to satisfy, but your mother is an entirely different story. Telling her you're going off to a magical land would not be the most ideal thing to do. And your school will be certain to inform her if your absences go above the permitted number. There is also the fact that time flows differently in the Nevernever, so a day there could be equivalent to three here in the mortal world."

"That could be a problem, yeah," Catherine sighed, lifting a hand and running it through her copper colored hair, frowning. "So…my mom…uh…"

She lapsed into silent thought, and Demon followed suit. He thought back on what he knew about Catherine's mother, which, despite three years of observation, wasn't really all that much. She was a kind, understanding woman, but she also drew very strict lines when necessary. Catherine running off from school would be crossing one of those lines, most certainly, and the consequences could be unpleasant when Catherine returned, because Demon was quite sure she would, at least for a short time, if not permanently. So…how did one handle such a situation?

"I might be able to call in a favor," he murmured, and Catherine's head turned towards him.

"A favor?" she asked, puzzled. "How would that help?"

"Favors are quite enormous deals to fey," Demon explained casually, "When one fey does a service for another, generally he will ask some kind of favor or promise in return. Faeries are always looking to make a bargain with each other, it is how we barter. Say I were to take you to the Nevernever, that would be me doing a personal service to you. You would be required to pay me back any way I asked you to or I would not have to take you to the Nevernever."

Catherine's eyes got very wide. "You forgot to mention that part," she said quietly.

"I didn't say I would make you make a deal with me," he sighed, realizing his little misstep. "I am merely attempting to educate you on how the fey work and think. Where you humans have money, we fey have favors and oaths. We take them very seriously. Break an oath or refuse a favor and you are liable for extreme unpleasantness, and not only that, fey are very choosy with their demands. For instance, you have probably heard the old wife's tale on how the witch in Rapunzel demanded the infant of the farmer and his wife in exchange for the magical cabbage growing in her garden?"

"Yes," said Catherine slowly.

"The witch was fey," Demon explained, "She demanded the firstborn child in exchange for her services, though, in the end, it wasn't quite a happy ending for her, poor wretch. But, the point I am attempting to make is fey seem to have this sick fascination with the firstborn of you humans."

"Not happening," said Catherine firmly. "Children aren't a soon coming thing in my future, but no one is getting my firstborn child."

"Then be careful where you make your bargains and who with," he advised her patiently. "And be grateful that I am not asking anything more of you than cooperation. Now, back to my favor that I can call in. I know of a fey living very close to this city, and he is very wise and very adept at molding golems."

"Golems?" Catherine looked uneasy. "Aren't they basically inanimate beings or animals molded into a human form by a wizard?"

"That is the rudimentary version of it, yes," Demon agreed. "But this fey's work revolves more around clay. He would only need something like a hair of yours to make it work, and the golem could attend your classes and do all that it is required to do."

"But could it learn?" she asked, still sounding unconvinced that this was a good plan. "I mean…being here is all good and well, but failing is just as likely to get my mom's attention."

"That won't be a problem," Demon said. "The golem will have your knowledge and understanding. You would be surprised what characteristics of yourself a simple strand of hair can hold."

"And if it decides it likes being me?" she asked.

"It won't," said Demon curtly, "It is only a piece of clay with your brain, not your emotions or your human motives. It can only repeat what is fed into it. Like your computers. It cannot feel emotion or concoct plans based on those feelings. When you return—if you so choose to—then you will take up your place again as usual and the golem will be disposed of. And before you worry about calls to your mother or some kind of exchange of that sort, the golem will also mind those. It has the memories of your interactions and can relay them like a prepared tape recorder. It will simply adjust accordingly to the present situation and deal with it then."

Catherine seemed to be contemplating his words, but still seemed uncertain.

"And you're sure it will be okay?" she asked, and he could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"I promise you," he said in a low voice, "Nothing ill will come from the golem taking your place. Your grades will stay as they are, as you would keep them, and your mother and the rest of your family and friends will be kept safe and convinced that you are well."

"And," Catherine said slowly, her voice dropping to a very quiet murmur, almost a whisper, "What if I'm not well? What if… You said it yourself that the Nevernever is dangerous. How can we be sure I'll come back alright?"

"Because I won't let it happen any other way," Demon said firmly, and she turned to him, her expression stunned. "When I said before I wouldn't ask a favor, I had forgotten one thing. I will ask merely one favor of you in exchange for taking you into the Nevernever, should you decide that is what you wish to do. Will you agree to it?"

Catherine eyed him for a moment, her jade eyes still anxious.

"Do I get to hear what the terms are first?" she asked.

"Yes," he murmured, nodding, "The terms are this. If I am to take you into the Nevernever, you will allow me to act as your guide and guardian for the duration of your stay, if I tell you to run, you will do so, and if I tell you to hide, you will not question me on it. Anything I tell you to do to keep you safe, you will respond to without questioning me, ever. Those are my terms. In exchange, I will take you through the Nevernever, wherever you wish to go, even if that ends up being in search of the fey that sired you, and I will protect you from the dangers presented. Do we have a deal?"

Catherine gazed at him for a long moment, and he stared right back, waiting for her to make her decision, wondering if she would actually have the nerve and will to make such a snap decision at all. Apparently she did, for after a long minute of simply looking at him, warring with herself, Catherine straightened her shoulders and nodded.

"We have a deal," she said firmly, "And I want to go to the Nevernever."

"I imagined as much," he said with a low purr of amusement. "You won't be able to go now, I imagine. You will need time to gather your things and prepare."

"What should I pack, other than clothes?" she asked uncertainly.

"Only clothes," he told her. "You will need nothing else that the Nevernever cannot provide. Food, lodging, it will all be there. If you wish to bring a book or something to entertain yourself during the times we are not moving, I would recommend it, though given you seem keen on finding your birth father, I imagine you won't quite have time for reading."

"You're probably right," she mumbled. "So…when do we leave, then?"

"In two days," he decided. "That will give us enough time to haggle with your landlord and get what we need ready. Then from there we shall go wherever we need to. And, as I said before, if you ever choose to leave the Nevernever and continue your life here, you are free to do so. I will not stop you."

"But will you come back?" she asked, and he hesitated as heard the note of anxiousness in her voice. "I mean…this isn't where you said you belong, but you were here for three years…"

"I cannot say for certain if I will come back or not," he admitted, not looking at her as he said it, though he could feel the weight of her jade eyes on the back of his scruff as he bent his head to lick at his chest. "Perhaps I will, perhaps I won't. That is in the future and shall be decided when it is necessary to choose."

Lifting his head from his grooming, he turned to look at her, his yellow-green eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he took in the sudden frown on her face, and the not quite hidden sadness in her eyes.

"Do you wish me to come back if you choose to do so as well?" he inquired lightly, cocking his head at her.

"Yes," she murmured without hesitating.

He looked her over for a long moment, then sighed quietly.

"Why?" he asked gently.

Catherine glanced over at him, then away swiftly, though he thought he caught the shimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Because," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice, though she was attempting to hide them from appearing on her face, "I missed you. You've been around for three years, and now you show up again…I really missed you when I came here. Even if I didn't know you were a fey and all of that before now…"

Demon felt his whiskers twitch in spite of himself, and he found himself inspecting his paws for no apparent reason. His claws, he noted, were getting a tad long…He'd have to whittle them down soon.

"Missing someone is normal for a human," he said off handedly, still staring at his paws. "You miss many people. Why miss me in particular if I decide to stay in my rightful home?"

"Because I like you," she murmured quietly.

He had ignored it then, but Demon knew now he should never have pretended he couldn't feel that little flipping in his feline heart when she'd said that to him. It was a stupid mortal notion, liking someone, or something. Or at least he'd considered it was… Nearly two months after the fact though, it didn't seem quite as silly as before…

He sighed heavily, still with his head resting on Catherine's knees, and mumbled incoherently as she trailed her fingers lightly through his silvery hair.

"You're quiet," she said softly, and he opened one eye to peer at her from under his bangs, "You worried about today?"

"Not particularly," he answered quietly, not sure if he meant it or not. "I imagine we have endured worse than what we may end up facing in the Briars, though I wouldn't go so far as to say we won't encounter anything that won't make you wish you had stayed in Arcadia by the end of it."

"I think I can take it," she said, offering a small smile, gently mussing his hair so he mumbled in annoyance. "So long as you can get up and promise you won't fall down on the job."

"Job?" he grunted, straightening up as she shifted her legs out from under him, rising from the bed, "What job?"

"Oh, you aren't my bodyguard anymore?" she asked in amusement, stretching her arms over her head and standing up, yawning immensely.

Demon didn't know why he said what he said next, but the minute he had he wished he could take it back, or slap himself so hard in the face he'd clock out and maybe wake up to realize it had been a nightmare.

"After last night, you really want me to be your guard anymore?" he murmured, watching her through half closed yellow-green eyes.

She went rigid at his words, and he drew in a low hiss between his teeth as he mentally sucker punched himself for his moment of stupidity, and closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out whatever sight he might see if she turned to look at him. Maybe she'd just slap him and be done with it…

"Why would you say that?" she asked quietly, and he inwardly groaned to hear the sure sound of tears in her voice. He'd rather she just punched him, somehow he knew it would hurt less.

"Because I didn't do my job last night," he murmured, lifting a hand to run it down the length of his face, feeling worn already. "I vowed to protect you so long as we were in the Nevernever, until you decided to go home, and I failed to do that job last night when I let that bastard of a Prince get close to you."

"You weren't there, Demon, it wasn't your fault," she said, now sounding less tearful and more weary, like he felt, though he could still sense the hurt in her tone.

"It was," he said firmly, "I chose not to come last night, even though I knew he would be there, and Mab as well. I knew the danger you could be in but I made the choice to trust Oberon and it ended up with you injured and afraid, and if Sonata had not been there to help you I don't know what I would have done…"

"It still wasn't your fault," she said quietly, "We all make choices, Demon. Some good, some bad. You didn't know what he would do, so it wasn't your fault. If you'd known, then we could argue the other side of this, but you didn't, you're not psychic."

"Catherine," he sighed, opening his eyes to glare at her, but she cut him off.

"No, don't even," she snapped, rounding on him, her jade eyes blazing, but behind that angry fire there was the shimmer of tears, "Don't even try, Demon. It was not your fault, and I refuse to say it is. You've got yourself in this delusion that since you weren't there and something went wrong it makes your fault and it's not. That's called survivor's guilt, trust me, I know all about it. You gave me all the tools I needed to be safe, and it just ended up not being enough, but that does not mean you are any more to blame than anyone else aside from Rowan. What Rowan did last night was his fault, no one else's. Mab didn't make him do it, so it's not her fault, Oberon and Titania didn't make him do it or know he was going to do it, so it's not their fault. It's no one's fault but his, so you will _please _stop trying to convince me otherwise or I may just slap you."

"You're still welcome to," he said dryly, glowering, "It might wake me up a little to the reality I cannot seem to do my designated job right."

"I take it back, I'm not going to slap you," she said curtly, hands on her hips now as she glared at him, ignoring the flare of pain that shot up her back, "I'm going to do something much worse."

"I doubt you could do worse than slapping me, Catherine," he told her with a rather sarcastic smile. "Unless you plan to kick me, as I have seen firsthand the kind of power you can put into a kick when you want to. That redcap must still feel that little ache in his rear when he thinks of you."

"Would you shut up," she exclaimed, thoroughly exasperated as she stalked around the bed to stand over him. "One more word and I'll do it, Demon."

"Do what?" he asked, rolling his eyes, unconcerned.

"I'll hug you," she said, jabbing a finger at him, "So help me, Demon, I will, and I might just kiss you, too."

"You wouldn't dare," he said, truly alarmed as he immediately scrambled backwards on the bed, nearly throwing himself off on the other side.

"I would and I will if you say another word," she threatened him, trying to fight a smirk as he stared in horror at her from the other end of the bed.

She might not have any other beef on Demon, but if there was one thing she knew that he hated, it was physical affection. Aside from the occasional pat on his head or curling up beside her to sleep, touching Demon was not in any, shape, form or context 'okay'. Hugs were unacceptable and kissing him was equivalent to dumping him in a vat of boiling grease. If he was touched, it was on his terms, and only on his terms. Otherwise, you were liable to lose an arm. At least if you were anyone other than her, as she had it on very good authority that he wasn't allowed to hurt her, per his contract to protect her from harm, including harm invoked by him.

"Alright," Demon said, crouching on the other side of the bed, his eyes enormous, "Alright, I will be quiet. Do not touch me."

"Then don't talk," she growled at him. "If I even get a hint that you're being self-disciplining…"

He growled back at her, narrowing his yellow-green eyes, and she smirked.

"What was that?" she asked sweetly, and he winced.

"I won't say a word," he muttered, glaring.

"Good," she said, folding her arms over her chest, and wincing as it caused another shooting pain to run the length of her right shoulder. "I need to talk to the healer…"

"We both do," said Demon, still eyeing her cautiously as he climbed off the bed and traveled around it to inspect her shoulder, not at all happy to rediscover the almost burn-like redness marring her back, or to see her wounds still rather open, though they still weren't bleeding, which he thought was at least the one good sign of all of this. "We will have to be quick, though. Trinity wanted to leave in an hour, but that was nearly half an hour ago."

Catherine rounded on him, her jade eyes stretching wide in alarm, and a moment later she was dashing to her wardrobe, yanking out her one remaining pair of jeans and a t-shirt before fleeing into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"And you didn't wake me up before now?" she demanded through the closed door.

"You needed to rest," he sighed, rolling his eyes, failing to hide his amusement as she remerged, fully dressed, yanking her copper hair up into a loose ponytail as she darted back to the wardrobe and yanked her Converse from it.

"Rest," she said, sounding desperate, "Demon, an hour means an hour. And she's not exactly hurrying us for no reason. Or have you forgotten a certain someone who'll be waiting for her?"

"I hadn't forgotten," Demon said, a little staunchly, meandering around the room and gathering a few things for their trip, dumping them on the bed before searching beneath the bed for a pack. "But I do not consider Trinity's love life as more important than your sleep. I believe we might have already had a similar discussion on a similar matter."

"Talk priorities later, Demon, we have got to get moving," she snapped at him, standing up quickly and regretting it as her back throbbed horridly with burning pain so for a moment she couldn't move, or breathe, and had to stabilize herself against the wall with her head down to fight down a wave of nausea riding on the heels of the anguish.

"And how do you plan to move when you physically can't?" Demon inquired idly, though his tone was icy with anger as he walked over to stand behind her, his yellow-green eyes raking her back as though searching for a visible malady he could cure.

"Just hurry," she gasped, trying to fight down the pain, but it wasn't going away. "Christ that hurt…!"

Demon growled inaudible words under his breath as he stepped closer and looped on arm around her waist, bending to scoop her legs right out from underneath her before she could protest. Of course, after the fact, she squeaked in alarm and turned an annoyed gaze on him as he carried her back to the bed.

"Demon," she began, but he silenced her with a look as he settled her on the mattress.

"Stay here and don't move," he commanded her in a low voice, then strode from the room before she could come up with a counterargument.

"One of these days," she muttered, sinking back onto the pillows, arms over her chest, glaring at the door the Cait Sith had vanished through, "He's really going to regret bossing me around like that…"

Though, if she had to be honest with herself, he was only bossing her because she wasn't arguing with him, like now. If she got up from the bed, he wasn't bossing her around, but here she was, on the bed, not moving, thus enabling him to boss her.

"What was it they said about peer pressure?" she wondered aloud, still annoyed as she glared at the door, "Just say no? Apparently that doesn't work with Cait Siths. I'll have to mention that to someone so they can fix the program."

Of course, if she'd really wanted to do something, she'd have gotten up out of the bed and moved around despite Demon's orders to stay put, but there were two things deterring her. One was Demon's potential wrath when he returned to find her doing the exact opposite of what he'd told her to do, and the pain in her back still hadn't subsided, and she really didn't want to aggravate it more than she already had, especially considering in the next half hour—if she got moving at all—they'd be heading out to start the search for her father, and she wasn't about to handicap that mission by messing up her shoulder any further. Though she was still distinctly annoyed that the healer had apparently not been as true to his word as he might have believed. She was very convinced of the fact that when he'd said she'd be fine by morning, he meant she'd feel better than this, and be able to move.

So she sat, and she waited, wondering how long it would take Demon to find the healer and rouse him if he wasn't already awake, and bring him back to the room to deal with her shoulder. And then she had to wonder how long the treatment would take, and felt a twinge of unease as she considered that the healer may just say her wounds were worse than he first thought and they'd have to put off leaving for a day. If she heard that, she might just have to hit something. And even if she did hear that, she wasn't staying put. They had already been planning this for two weeks and she wasn't about to let her injuries get in the way of that, and especially not when Tertius and Glitch were supposed to be waiting for them outside of the trod leading to Arcadia. Trinity might forgive her, considering the injury wasn't her fault, but she'd be damned if she made her friend wait to see Tertius. Trinity had waited long enough.


	29. Chapter 29

"I am tellin' you," snapped an irritable, reedy voice all of a sudden, coming from the hallway, "The salve I applied last night is more than enough for the injuries she sustained. If she's still complaining about pain, I can only say she is probably over exaggerating."

"I beg to differ," said Demon's voice in response, his voice low and purring with menace, "She cannot move for the pain, healer, I doubt that is over exaggerating anything, not to mention half of her wounds have sealed up while the others stay open, and though she is not openly bleeding, I can certainly smell fresh blood."

"Perhaps you are oversensitive," the healer suggested, his tone curt and annoyed, and a moment later he came striding into the room on his stubby legs, his cane striking the floor as he waddled in, Demon close behind him.

"And perhaps you should be quiet and look," Demon suggested in return, looking all ready to tear the healer limb from limb if he had to hear one more disagreement out of the wizened elf.

"Fine," snapped the healer, already tottering away from Demon and approaching the bed where Catherine lay, his aged brow furrowed in annoyance as he came over, snapping his fingers to conjure his stool into being just beside the bed. "Sit up, girl, and be quick about it."

Catherine did as she was told, or tried to. The minute she got her arms under her and attempted to lever herself up, a searing agony shot the length of her back, resonating from her wounds, and she collapsed backwards with a gasp of pain, tears springing from her eyes, and Demon rushed forward to lean over her, his expression dark.

"Oh, come now," snapped the healer, looking exasperated as he clambered up on his stool and onto the bed beside her, "It cannot be so bad."

"Say another word, healer," Demon growled as he gently slipped an arm beneath Catherine, carefully beginning to turn her over, "Claws or not, I will be sure to make quite the retaliation against you."

"Do not threaten me, Cait Sith," the healer warned him coldly, brandishing his cane as Demon carefully began to lift Catherine's shirt, "I may be old, but I am none to be bullied by—merciful Creator!"

He broke off with a startled yelp as he finally lowered his beetle black eyes to Catherine's back, and his mouth fell open in alarm as he took in the raw red skin and still open wounds, one of the worst of which was now trickling just the slightest amount of blood.

"Would you care to rectify your earlier statement, healer?" Demon asked quietly, his tone menacing as he narrowed his yellow-green eyes at the elf. "Just what about this is over exaggerated exactly?"

The healer shook his head in silence, still looking rather stricken as he gaped down at Catherine's wounds, his expression uncomprehending.

"This can't be," he squeaked, shaking his head more firmly now, clambering forward to lean over Catherine, his nose almost touching her back as he stared at the puncture marks. "I made absolutely certain the salve would heal those injuries by mornin'."

"Even if they weren't all healed," Demon said softly, "She shouldn't be in this kind of pain. She can't _move_, healer."

"There shouldn't be wounds or pain," the healer insisted, his expression deeply concerned now as he watched the one severe puncture ooze yet more vividly crimson blood. "This makes no sense…"

"You made the potion yourself?" Demon inquired, eyes mere slits now. "Here, in this room, you made the salve from scratch?"

"No," the healer said, shaking his head, "But it was fresh from my stocks when I came at Oberon's call. No more than a day old… This shouldn't be happenin'."

"Well, it is," said Demon tersely, "And I'd rather like if you fixed it."

"It isn't a problem with the salve," the healer said, a frown coming to his face as he continued to inspect Catherine's injuries with a keen black eye, "Somethin' else…"

"What else could it be?" Demon asked, barely holding on to his temper, only doing so by remembering he had once been able to be much more patient than this, once upon a time in his life.

"The gate," said Catherine quietly, and the healer and Demon both turned to look at her as she turned her head to peer up at them through pained jade eyes, "Maybe…I don't know, maybe something was wrong with the gate?"

Demon's eyes narrowed again, and the healer seemed to lapse into thought.

"Oberon could have put something on the briars I suppose," he mumbled to himself, tapping his chin with a wizened finger, "But he would have been sure to mention it last night…no, I don't think so… He hasn't altered that gate's design in centuries, why would he bother now? Especially with something like putting a potion on the thorns?"

His eyes fell back to Catherine's wounds; taking note of just which ones were still open, and which ones had sealed themselves over night, his eyes marking a pattern.

"There's a pattern here," he said quietly, bending over her, and Demon leaned in as well, scrutinizing the outline the healer drew over a good area of Catherine's back, more towards the top of her shoulder and neck than further down along her back. "Not quite so large…more towards the top, but I applied the same amount of salve there as I did on the healed areas…"

"Where?" Catherine asked, blinking over at him as best she could from where she lay.

"Here," Demon said, lifting a finger and very lightly tracing it over her shoulder, encompassing the still injured area. "Just here…Can you think of anything that would make that happen? Other than the gate or the salve?"

Catherine thought back, trying to remember that moment when she'd gotten herself injured, but all she could think about from the moment she'd ended up ramming her back into the gate was just the gate…and then later the salve… but what about the in between time between the two? She thought backwards from the minute the salve had been applied.

"Lady Weaver had me take a bath," she said thoughtfully, but the healer shook his head.

"That was all over," he said, frowning, "These open wounds are in a pattern on your back, just close to the top of your shoulder. A bath wouldn't leave a pattern like this. What else? Anything at all?"

She thought harder, moving backwards through the night before. Before the bath, she'd just had her dress and Sonata's cloak on, but she didn't think that would have made a difference, either. That would have been all over, too, and the straps of her dress had been pretty much devastated on the right side during her scuffle with the satyrs and then when she'd run into the gate because of Rowan. Her train of thought came screeching to a sudden, jerky stop, her mind freezing on Rowan, and her eyes grew wide as she remembered something she had been working to suppress. After she'd run into the gate, she remembered now, Rowan had grabbed her again…he'd taken her blood.

"There's no way," she whispered, feeling her heart thud rapidly against her chest as a sudden panic began to rise up.

"What, Catherine?" Demon asked, his voice urgent.

"Rowan took my blood," she whispered, turning her head to stare up at him, jade eyes wide with disbelief. "From the pattern you traced out that was where…"

She couldn't even say it, just the memory of the Winter Prince's mouth on her skin was revolting enough, she didn't even want to say the words aloud, but she didn't need to. The look in Demon's eyes as he slowly lowered them to the wounds on her back said he understood, and he was livid.

"The Ice Prince took blood?" the healer squeaked, sounding horrified. "From you? Why?!"

"I don't know," she said, her voice trembling, "I think he was just being sadistic…"

"Sadistic with a purpose," murmured Demon, and she flinched to hear the low growl in his voice, ever the infuriated Cait Sith. "A blood exchange is as good as a vow, even if he didn't take it for anything other than to ensure your pain. And that's what he's done now. He wants your pain, and he's gotten it. When he took your blood, his intentions went into you, into the wound, and now they won't heal because of it."

It sounded ludicrous when he said it that way, but how else did he explain it? It was the truth, after all. A wound may not be a living entity, but intentions and desires were, and Rowan's desires had filtered into Catherine's wounds by way of his—Demon shuddered to even think it—saliva, the same way her blood had passed into the Prince as he'd taken her blood. The Prince wanted Catherine to experience pain, any kind of pain, and now that was what was happening. His intentions had become imbedded in her wounds, and now were deliberately keeping her from healing. Worse than that, they were inciting physical pain when she shouldn't have been able to feel it. The left behind fragments of Rowan's sadistic wishes had remained behind, and had negated the healing effects of the salve the healer had administered.

"Then there's nothin' I can do," the healer said, his voice faint, almost like a breath of wind, and he moved away from Catherine, his hunched shoulders hunching over even more in defeat. "If the Prince has taken her blood and wished her ill by it, then no amount of healin' will be able to undo it."

Demon hissed a curse under his breath, barely restraining the urge to lash out at something, anything, though the porcelain vase on the nightstand was making a very alluring target. He turned away before he could break it into a thousand pieces, breathing deeply to calm himself as the healer slid off the bed and onto the floor, his black eyes somber.

"I am so sorry," the healer murmured, speaking to both Demon and Catherine. "I wish I could help, but the only way to reverse this effect is if you manage to get the Prince to take back his ill wishes, but since you make it seem as though he did it unconsciously then I doubt even that would help you now."

"So what do we do?" Demon asked in a low voice.

"Pray he gives up his ill feelin's towards her," the healer said with a helpless shrug, "Otherwise that wound could remain open for the rest of eternity."

Demon's eyes narrowed and he felt his anger surge again. The healer suggested that remedy as though he really expected it to help…well, they'd sooner get an apology out of Mab for all the wrong she'd done than ever hope that Rowan would give up his anger and sadistic tendencies towards Catherine. That much was certain…

"You can't give her anything for the pain?" he asked in a very quiet voice, closing his eyes, trying to block out the red fury building inside of him.

"I could but it wouldn't work," said the healer morosely. "The whole purpose of the Prince's ill desires is that she suffers, which means anythin' I give her would just be about as helpful as if I didn't give it at all."

"I see," murmured Demon, his eyebrows slanting down into a furious line, "Thank you for your assistance, healer."

The healer nodded slowly, not speaking as he gazed up into the Cait Sith's face, which held barely controlled rage, then glanced over at Catherine, who was lying on the bed, pain and tears brimming in her eyes, and heaved a sigh.

"I am sorry," he murmured again, meaning it, and turned to make his way out of the bedroom, his little walking stick clicking against the tile floor as he vanished from sight.

When he was gone, Catherine slowly rolled herself onto her side, trying to breathe through the slight pain it caused her, and pushed herself up, turning watering jade eyes onto Demon, who stood rigidly at the bedside, his eyes still firmly shut, his hands clenched into fists.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, and his eyes snapped open at once.

"For what?" he asked, turning to stare at her, still visibly angry, but she knew it wasn't anger towards her.

"If I had known that would happen," she said through the gathering tears, "I wouldn't have let him get that close…"

"It is not your fault," Demon told her firmly, "And though I am loathe to say it I do not believe Rowan had any idea of what would happen, either. I am sure he has heard of a blood oath, given it would be a poor reflection on Mab's educating him if he didn't, but I feel she left out telling him that any blood exchange is a blood oath, whether words are spoken or not. Intentions and desires speak louder than any words, and he managed to leave them with you. Otherwise, I feel you would be in much greater pain if he knew the effects of his actions."

Catherine suspected he was right, and was secretly glad in her way that Rowan was ignorant to the possibilities presented to him from taking her blood, but it made her wonder…

"Sonata knew he took my blood," she murmured quietly, "And so did Mab and Titania and Oberon, but they didn't react like you just did…Shouldn't they have known?"

Demon heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair, a look of total exhaustion on his face.

"They should have," he said, settling down on the bed, "But since you didn't say anything about making a blood oath, I doubt it would have crossed their minds that something like this could happen. Not to mention we didn't know about this until this morning. If your wounds had been acting up last night, it probably would have come up sooner."

"Should we say anything about it?" she asked him, her brow furrowing, but he shook his head.

"No," he said quietly, "If we do, Oberon will call for a repayment of blood to make the deal fair. Not only that, but that would let Rowan know he has power over you, and Mab would know as well. For now, it is better to be quiet about it and hope we can find something else to work against this."

"Would anyone know a way to fix it, other than trying to convince Rowan not to hate me?" she asked, making the feeblest attempt at a joke.

"If anyone would aside from Oberon or Mab, it would be Lord Wrath," Demon admitted tiredly, his yellow-green eyes swirling with thought.

"So our best chance for everything right now is still him," she murmured, and he nodded mutely. "Then we need to get going, Demon. If we can't get to him—"

"Catherine, you can barely move," he said, turning to her suddenly, his expression a mixture of pained and furious, "And I suspect that whenever Rowan manages to think of you, it will only cause you more pain, which could happen at any time. That could render you incapacitated right in the middle of wherever we are and that could put you in even more danger. Why do you think I am about to let you walk out of here like this?"

"Because I'm not giving you a choice," she said, suddenly just as angry as he was, and pushing herself away from him, rolling off the bed, and regretting it when it caused her entire back to surge with pain, robbing her of breath.

She nearly collapsed, but managed to brace herself on the wall as before, even as Demon hissed and raced around the bed to her side, reaching out an arm to support her, and though she might have liked to push him away and insist she could do it on her own, she knew better, and allowed him to circle her waist with an arm, steadying her.

"You might not be giving me a choice, but your body isn't giving you one, either," he told her quietly.

"I need to find Wrath, Demon," she said, pain in her voice and in her eyes as she tilted her head back to look imploringly up at him. "That's the whole point of this! Finding my dad, now getting this whole blood oath mess taken care of, he's the only one who would know anything about either issue!"

"You don't have to be with us," Demon told her, and her eyes flashed with alarm, "I'm asking you to stay here while we go find Wrath, Catherine. Not that we will not find him, but that you remain here, where it is safe."

"I thought you knew me better than that," she said, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, a hurt that had nothing to do with her shoulder.

"I do," he murmured, "You wouldn't stay here if your life depended on it if you knew you could find Wrath, but I made a vow to you that I would protect you and this is me fulfilling that oath."

"The minute you left I'd be right behind you," she told him angrily, glaring up at him. "You really think you can just expect me to stay here?"

"I could always have Oberon enchant you into sleep," he said, his eyes narrowing, "You wouldn't have a choice then, and you would at least be numb to the pain."

"Do it and see if I ever forgive you," she spat at him.

"I know you wouldn't," he sighed, looking a little amused now as he gazed down at her. "But I wouldn't forgive myself if you came to harm trying to be a warrior woman when you are injured like this…Isn't it enough that I failed to protect you from this already?"

"It wasn't your fault," she said angrily.

"We could argue the fact all day long and onward if you like," he murmured, "But the truth is clear, whether you believe it or not."

"I think I said something about kissing you if you kept on like that," she said dangerously, and he allowed himself a dry chuckle.

"You may kiss me all you like," he told her, stooping to sweep her off her feet again, bringing her back to the bed and setting her upon it, "I can imagine worse punishments for my failures."

"Then start imagining them, because they're coming," she growled at him as he drew away, and he smiled softly.

Realizing she wasn't getting anywhere fast, Catherine hurried to change tactics.

"Demon, please," she begged, grabbing onto his wrist when he made to turn away, "You know this is important to me."

"Is this the part where you try to appeal to my gentler, weaker side?" he asked with a small sigh, looking back over his shoulder at her. "If you really want to, I'm willing to sit and watch."

"Demon," she said, her temper flaring again, along with a hint of desperation.

"Catherine," he murmured, letting her continue to hold his wrist as he set himself down on the edge of the bed, "You know I can't just let you walk around in this state."

"If you leave me here, Oberon will ask why," she told him quietly, "And do you really want to try to come up with a good excuse?"

"Your injury isn't healed," Demon said simply.

"And why isn't it?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "It should have been, and he'll know that. You say you don't want him to know about the blood oath but you're missing a key element here."

Demon muttered under his breath, realizing her logic and hating it. He couldn't leave her here, it was true. Oberon would demand an explanation, and it would only be so long before the Summer King figured out the truth of the matter, assuming, of course, the healer hadn't already gone to inform the monarch already. So if he couldn't leave her here and he couldn't take her with the rest of them to find Wrath, what could he do?

"I am sure Spindle would be happy to see you again," he mused thoughtfully.

"Demon," she snapped, really annoyed now. "If you take me out of this castle, you aren't getting rid of me no matter what you do."

"I cannot let you get hurt again," he said, anger and frustration plain in his tone and in his eyes as he turned to fix her with a yellow-green stare.

"And you won't," she said quietly, "You're not the only that will be there, Demon. Trinity, Nikki, Puck, Tertius and Glitch will all be there, too."

"And if that's not enough?" he asked, glaring now.

"Why can't you trust me on this?" she demanded.

"I do trust you, I don't trust myself," he retorted. "How can I trust myself to keep you safe when it's because of my failure already that you have this injury in the first place? How can I have a hope of protecting you like I vowed to if I already let Rowan trap you like this?"

"That's not your fault," she said, staring up at him, looking stunned by his outburst.

"Then whose fault is it?" he growled in his throat.

"Rowan's," she said, "All Rowan's. Alright? So please—_please!_—stop blaming yourself for this, Demon! Or I really will make you sorry you kept on about it! I know you're worried about me, I know you promised to protect me, but I'm not a kid. You might think I am based on how you were raised, but I'm not, okay? I can take care of myself."

"Then why haven't you?" he demanded, stopping her dead in her mental tracks. "You say you can take care of yourself, fine. Prove it. Because for the past few weeks, though I really hate to point this out to you, you have not been doing the most stunning of jobs, Catherine. You cannot sleep without nightshade, you are developing an immunity to it, you were injured last night because Rowan cornered you, he managed to initiate a blood exchange, and on top of all of that you really want to try and tell me you can take care of yourself after you endured whatever you did with Sage?"

He knew he should never have even considered saying all of that to her, but he was past playing nice now. She was hurt, she was ill, it was his fault, and he was not going to stand idly by and watch her get again because he let her bully him into bring her with the rest of them to look for Wrath. He knew it was her venture, knew it was her father they were looking for, but at the moment he really couldn't have cared less. His first priority was to protect her, always, and he hadn't. And because of that they were where they now stood. If he had to make her so mad at him she never wanted to see him again, so be it, but he wasn't about to let her get hurt again because of his incompetence.

"I will go find Trinity," he said quietly, rising to his feet, pulling his wrist out of her slackened grip, "And tell her what has happened. Nikki and Puck as well. They will need to know what is going on so we can figure out where to keep you while we find Wrath."

He started to walk away, but something stopped him dead as it grabbed the back of his shirt, and he turned his head in alarm to see it was Catherine, sitting up, her hand fisted in his tunic, with such a furious look on her face he thought he might just be imagining it. Of course, that was until she dragged herself out of the bed, wincing and hissing every couple of seconds as the pain in her back increased, until she was standing toe to toe with him, with her jade eyes blazing angrily up at him.

"You," she said in a low, dangerous voice, "Are really damn lucky I know you said that to try to piss me off and make it so I'd be happy you left, because otherwise you'd be on the ground crying for that, and I'm not going to tell either Nikki or Trinity you said that, because they'd side with me and then you'd have a whole other ring of hell to deal with. But I will tell you this: I am walking out that door, I am going to Oberon, and I am demanding he changes you back into a cat, because you are just flat out annoying as hell when you're a human, and I really don't give a damn how sexy you are when you're human. I'll take your cat-self over your human-self if it means I can get you to shut up. And while I do that, you're going to go find Trinity, and apologize on bended knee for the delay, and tell her we'll be out of her ASAP. Think you can do that?"

If he hadn't known she was dead serious, he might have had the gall to laugh. In any case, he didn't manage to keep from smirking down at her.

"You can't walk," he said coolly, "How do you plan to get to Oberon if you cannot even walk?"

"I'll crawl," she said waspishly, and now he _did _laugh. "You think I'm joking?"

"I know you aren't, and that is what is so utterly appalling," he said, rolling his eyes, at the same time feeling a surge of dull irritation. "I can see you are going to make it deliberately harder for me to make you stay anywhere, aren't you?"

"You just figured this out?" she asked, narrowing her jade eyes at him.

"I was at least hoping you would consider I am only doing this for your wellbeing," he murmured quietly.

"Oh, screw wellbeing," she muttered, and his eyebrows shot up. "If I cared about my wellbeing, I wouldn't have come here at all, Demon, you know that. You told me before we even came here how dangerous it would be. I knew the risks. I just thought you did, too…"

The way she said it made his insides shrivel up a little, but he tried to ignore the discomfort and instead cocked his head at her, feeling weary all over again.

"Is there nothing I can say or do?" he asked quietly, and she smiled almost apologetically up at him.

"Sorry," she murmured, shaking her head, "There really isn't. You're stuck."

He sighed again, closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, wondering if there really wasn't anything he had a hope of doing. He couldn't consider one single thing where she didn't either make him regret it for the rest of his existence or where he didn't feel like he had been an absolute bastard, or where she didn't win out over him.

"Fine," he murmured at last, resigned, "I see there's no choice…"

"There's always a choice," she told him, "Just this time I'm not really making the choice easy."

"At least we can agree on that," he murmured, "But I will have my say in one thing, Catherine. We are telling Nikki and Trinity about this, and we will see what they say."

"Whatever they say, it won't change my mind," she told him. "They know me well enough after nearly ten years to know that they can say anything to the moon and back about this and I won't listen. And I know they'll worry, but, Demon, they wouldn't be my friends if they didn't, and they wouldn't be my friends if they also didn't let me do what I need to. And I _need _to do this. It's one of the big reasons why I'm here. Before we even came, it was the _only _reason I was here. I need to find my father, and if Wrath can point the way, and even help us with this new thing, then he's who I am going to look for. No matter what that takes. It matters that much to me."

"I know, I know," he groaned, running a hand exasperatedly over his face. "Woman…you will really drive me to an early retirement…"

"I didn't know you worked," she said, the corner of her lips quirking.

"I do work," he muttered with a sigh, "Every day, to keep you _alive_. So far, it's been proving one of the most difficult ventures of my entire existence."

"I won't apologize for that," she murmured, her jade eyes darkening slightly at it his words.

"I am not asking you to," he answered, frowning at her. "I am merely marveling at the fact that in all of my centuries alive this has been the first instance that I have ever forced myself to work so hard for an individual other than myself."

"And why do you do it?" she asked, tilting her head at him, looking a little bemused. "You haven't done this for anyone else, even though it would be probably be a lot easier on you if you did, because all I seem to be able to do is get into trouble, but you go out of your way to help me. You have since before we got here…but you never really explained why outside of you want to see my full potential. I was satisfied with that answer before, but I'm not so sure about it now."

"What exactly are you asking me to say, Catherine?" Demon sighed, feeling a little whiplashed. Hadn't they just been talking about how she wasn't going anywhere in her condition? Why were they suddenly talking about him and his motives?

"I'm just asking you to tell me the whole truth behind why you're so desperate to keep me safe, vows aside," she told him, her jade eyes narrowing slightly. "And if all you can tell me is that it is because of the vow, then I'll be fine with that. I just want the truth."

"The truth…" He sighed again, one hand now over his face entirely, his eyes closed, feeling a slow tick beginning in his temple the longer he stood there. This wasn't what was supposed to be happening.

He was supposed to be convincing her to stay put, to rest while he and the others found Wrath and either got answers or brought him back somehow to speak with her himself, but that apparently was not at all what was happening. And that rather annoyed him. Rather than taking him at his word, or making himself heard on the matter, she was completely switching topics to something altogether unrelated. His motives for protecting her… Aside from the issue being thoroughly inconsequential to their previous discussion—a discussion he rather wanted to continue on—he really didn't want to speak of his intentions currently, because he himself wasn't entirely sure how to answer…

"Catherine," he began wearily, but she cut him off, as though sensing he was attempting to delay her.

"Demon, it's just me asking for the truth, is that so bad?"

"When you can hardly stand from your injuries, you are insisting you go gallivanting off into the Briars like said wound is nothing, and I am failing to convince you otherwise, it is not so much whether the issue you are asking about is good or bad as the timing of asking about it is good or bad," he answered quietly, lowering his hand to look at her, frowning slightly. "Can't we discuss this later?"

She eyed him for a moment, not sure if she wanted to let the issue go so easily when he was making his own interests such a big part of the morning, but she also knew he was right. The truth could wait, it wasn't as though not knowing would kill her or anything so gruesome, but it did bother her that she didn't really feel satisfied anymore just hearing that his oath to her or his interest in her potential were the driving force behind it. Not to mention if it had really just been the oath, he could have just said so now and been done with the whole affair, but he hadn't, which meant he didn't think it was his oath binding him anymore than she did. Still, you could lead a horse to water, but you couldn't make it drink, as they said. She'd led Demon to water, but he sure as hell wasn't drinking.

"Alright," she murmured softly, sighing, "I can wait to hear the answer. But, Demon, don't even try and start with your whole spiel about me staying here, because we just discussed that it's not happening, and nothing you do is going to change my mind. Not even if you went and begged Trinity and Nikki to die me down or something."

"Nothing at all I can do?" he asked, arching a brow, his expression disbelieving.

"No," she said firmly, narrowing her eyes at him. "We've already said you won't get away with forcing me to stay here, either by tying me down or getting Oberon to enchant me to sleep, not to mention he'd be nagging to know why you asked him to do it in the first place and you'd probably owe him a favor, and I really don't think we need to be having that right now. Nikki and Trinity will side with me even if they're worried about my injury, so you won't get very far with that. Your only other alternative is to take me with you."

"Or drop you at Spindle's," he reminded her idly.

"Not happening," she said curtly. "I'd follow you the minute you left and you know it. And before you even try to suggest that you'd drug me with nightshade to make me sleep, you already know that won't work and you wouldn't do it anyway as it is because you're already worried to death about me being immune to it."

Demon absolutely loathed it when she was right…or at least as right as she was. He could handle it if she was right on one issue so long as he could still be correct on another, but she had thoroughly nullified each and every issue that he might have had a chance on. He was cornered. As a cat, that was unacceptable, and a normal course of action would be to lash out. The mortals didn't have their saying "corner a cat, get scratched" for no reason. But, alas, he couldn't lash out at Catherine. That would be doing her harm, and he was sworn to protect her from harm. Not to mention he didn't very much like to think of the repercussions that might come from such brazen behavior.

"You won't even think on this?" he asked quietly, his gaze beseeching as he looked down at her.

"I already have, and my answer is the same," she said firmly, "I'm going with you."

He heaved a deep sigh. He'd known she was going to say that, but hope sprang eternal as they said.

"Very well," he murmured, "Then I will go and apologize to Trinity for the delay, and tell her we will be out of here as soon as you are ready."

"Ready," Catherine said with a small smile.

"You sound so convinced of that," he muttered as he moved around her to the bed to begin stuffing their clothes into the small sack he'd retrieved earlier.

"And yet you don't," she sighed, turning to watch him out of the corner of her jade eyes. "Why is that?"

"Because I know better," he muttered, pushing the last bits of clothes into the bag and yanking the ties shut with rather excessive force, feeling his temper flare momentarily as he finally came to terms with his being utterly thwarted. Why couldn't he argue with her?

If he'd been Grimalkin, he would have probably had a much better time of getting her to do as he wanted, but that was out of the question. He was not Grimalkin, he was Demon, and Demon was sworn to protect Catherine, even if it meant doing so in the most unfavorable of conditions with her injured and in potential mortal danger as they embarked on a crusade of rather startling proportions. He really might retire after this…

While he packed, Catherine leaned against one of the posts of the bed, watching him through tired eyes, wishing she could better ignore the still throbbing pain in her back, though she was glad at least to notice it had abated somewhat for the time being. She wondered vaguely if her pain wasn't so much related to Rowan's current feelings for her as his sadistic tendencies in general. After all, she doubted he was thinking of her this much as it was, wherever he might be in Winter, hopefully enduring whatever punishment Mab had decided for him. That would border on obsession if he was thinking of her so immensely and with such strong feelings of dislike, even as she paused to consider that maybe—since he had made the blood oath without really realizing what he was doing—that perhaps his feelings and thoughts for her were more subconscious on his part. Everyone could think of something in the back of their minds without ever really realizing that they were sitting there thinking about it, so why couldn't Rowan? Still, she thought, weariness driving her to sit on the bed while Demon continued to finish their packing, she was really hoping that wherever Rowan was, he had better things to be doing than just sitting there thinking about her and the kind of pain he'd like her to be in…

Even if he was, it wouldn't really make a difference in what they were about to do. Regardless of what he wished on her, and how fiercely he might wish it, she wasn't going to let a little thing like his sadistic desires get in the way of her finding Wrath, and then her father. She hadn't made it all this way just to let a bastard like the Winter Prince cut her off now. Neither he, nor Mab were going to stop her…and neither was his elder brother…

She'd been doing well so far this morning not to think about Sage, but, of course, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. No amount of physical discomfort or mental exhaustion could make her forget the night before, waltzing around the floor of the great hall before the entire Summer court and Winter and Iron attendants… And even his short visit afterwards, to apologize in place of his brother, was burned like a brand into her memory… She was still shamed to think back on that moment, seeing him standing in the corner of the room, hidden almost entirely in shadow, and feeling her heart leap to think that he'd come to check on her. That he might care…

Yeah, right… Like Ash had said, Mab was all about appearances, and she had made sure her sons were no different in their opinion on that fact. He had only come to make things seem as right as possible between her and his mother and brother, since his mother couldn't be bothered to do it herself, and she was in no mood to allow Rowan near her again after the disgrace he'd caused. Still…just for a split second, she'd been foolish enough to think it. But, in the end, he was still a Winter Prince, and he cared nothing for her. The sooner she could fully acknowledge that, the better off she'd be…if only it were that simple.

"If you're just going to sit there," Demon murmured suddenly, causing her to start and turn to look at him, "I'm going to leave you here and fix a lot of problems."

The Cait Sith was watching her through half closed yellow-green eyes, and though his face was carefully composed in his usual mask of indifference, she could see the gleam of knowing in his eyes as he leveled a stare at her, and felt her stomach knot uncomfortably to see him scrutinizing her with such ease, like he could see right through her.

"I'm going," she said firmly, pushing herself to her feet, ignoring the weariness in her limbs and the burning in her shoulder. "We already discussed this."

Demon didn't respond immediately, taking his time eyeing her from where he stood at the side of the bed, one hand resting lightly on their now stuffed pack. After a moment he sighed and lifted it on one hand, holding it out to her so she turned with a surprised expression to look at it.

"If you're coming, you're carrying," he told her quietly, and she glanced up at him. "I might have lost most of my dignity as it is, but I refuse to be a pack mule, human body or not. If you reach the point when you cannot physically move while still carrying it, then we will discuss my shouldering it. Until then, if you want to act as though you are perfectly fit for this journey, we might as well act as though we believe it."

"I believe it," she said, frowning as she snatched the pack out of his hands, swinging it onto her shoulders and wincing slightly as it caused her wounds to throb, "You're the only one with a problem."

"Because I know better," he murmured as he swept by her, "But I cannot change the mind of a stubborn human girl, especially when that human girl is you."

"You say it like I'm special or something," she sighed, following after him as he led the way from the room, out into the hallways.

"You certainly make the argument that you are," he replied with a small snort, glancing back at her. "Even without stating directly that you are exceptional in some way, your every action says so, so you are very lucky that your subconscious seems as incapable of lying as you are or we might have a bigger conflict on our hands."

"I don't know if I understand what you're trying to say," she said, quickening her pace to keep up with his longer strides, peering up curiously at his face.

"That you are special," he sighed, rolling his yellow-green eyes, "Just do not make a habit of boasting about it, or I may be tempted to sew your lips together just for a respite."

"Hmmm…" Catherine gave him a skeptical look. "You know, you haven't been this cynical in a while. Are you really that sullen about me coming with you?"

"I am not sullen," he said curtly, "I am just thoroughly exasperated with how desperately you seem to want to put yourself in more danger than you already have, even if by accident. As we discussed, you have made my job quite difficult."

"If you explained why you work so hard at your job, I might be able to make it easier, you know," she told him quietly, and he felt his shoulders tense as he heard the clear prompt for him to answer her earlier question.

"Perhaps later," he murmured, not looking at her. "Right now, we have other matters of a rather sensitive nature to be dealing with."

"Like what?" she asked, looking ahead as well as he turned a sharp corner, leading towards the main entrance.

"How much you need to apologize to Trinity for holding us up, and how you plan to explain to our three comrades that you really are in no fit state to be going anywhere while you are still convinced that you are," he murmured as they strode down the next hall and into view of the front entrance, where Nikki, Puck and Trinity stood waiting with Oberon and Sorrel.

Nikki and Puck were lounging by the front doors, Puck's arms looped easily around Nikki's waist as she leaned back against him, the pair of them watching Trinity pace restlessly back and forth across the hall. Oberon was similarly distracted by the girl's movements, but Sorrel did not seem to pay her much mind, and instead stared straight ahead of him, thus making him the first to see Catherine and Demon as the pair came into view.

"Late," the Cait Sith announced, causing the others to turn in their direction. Trinity even stopped her incessant passing to turn a gleaming blue eye on them.

"Good morning to you as well, Sorrel," said Demon in a resigned voice, rolling his eyes as he led Catherine forward towards the group.

"Where have you been?" demanded Trinity, not quite angry, but certainly a little irritated as she strode forward, her sneakers squeaking on the floor until she was standing right in front of Catherine and Demon, giving them a rather annoyed look.

"Catherine's shoulder was acting up," said Demon easily when Catherine hesitated as Oberon turned an inquisitive gaze on them. "She needed a moment to stretch it out before we could finish packing. Did you get everything else?"

"The nightshade and stuff, yeah," said Trinity, nodding and giving Catherine a concerned look. "Shouldn't your shoulder be fine by now? The healer said it would be by morning."

"It was a little stiffer than I thought it would be," Catherine said with a small smile, avoiding looking at the Erkling as she faced her friend. "It's nothing big. Don't worry."

"You sure?" Trinity asked, her brow furrowing.

"Yes," sighed Catherine, rolling her jade eyes skyward. She thought she heard Demon give a low snort, but when she glanced at him he was totally straight faced, looking down at her through the corners of his yellow-green eyes. "Really, I'll be fine. We should really get going."

"Here here," said Puck, raising his hand as though toasting her, and when she glanced at him he flashed her a grin from over Nikki's head and shrugged. "We've been waiting for this for two weeks, I'm a little stir crazy."

"He's got cabin fever," Nikki said, grinning up at the faery, who snickered. "If we don't hurry he might just let loose right here in the front hall and not even God knows what might happen then."

"God looks away when I let loose," Puck informed her with a wicked smile. "He's afraid of what He'll see."

"I bet He is," said Nikki with a roll of her dark eyes. "You'd make the devil cry, Puck."

"Probably," he agreed, nodding.

"Unlikely," Sorrel and Demon said as one, their expressions identically resigned as they looked at Puck.

"And what do you know about it?" demanded Puck, looking rather affronted as he faced the two Cait Sith, who merely exchanged a bored look and sighed, shaking their heads. "Hey! I asked a question!"

"Our King was the Morningstar's companion for a millennium and you want to question why you don't think you would make him cry?" Sorrel inquired, twitching his whiskers as he gazed up at Puck through narrowed green eyes.

Puck fidgeted slightly at the mention of Wrath, getting a glimpse of just the kind of person he was trying to compare himself to, and frowned when Sorrel and Demon both continued to give him rather inquisitive looks.

"Fine," he grumbled, dropping his chin on Nikki's head, "No competition there."

"Wow, Robin Goodfellow, conceding defeat," said Trinity, feigning amazement as she turned to stare at him. "I think that's got to be the first instance of it in the entire history of Faery."

Nikki felt Puck tense at her friend's words, surprising her, and, glancing up, she noticed his expression seemed a little withdrawn as he gazed at Trinity, but before she could say anything to him, he caught her watching him and offered a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"It's actually the second time," he murmured to her when she frowned at him, "But don't tell her that."

He said it jokingly, but she could hear the small note of pain in his voice. And she didn't like it one bit, but something else in his expression told her it was best if she didn't nag, so she held her tongue, though she continued to look up at him with a rather concerned expression, and he smiled reassuringly down at her, his arms tightening marginally around her waist as he nuzzled her temple.

"I'm fine," he murmured in her ear, and she merely nodded in response.

"In any case, we need to go," Trinity said then, her authoritative voice bringing everyone's attention forward to where she stood by Oberon and the front doors to the castle. "We've got a long way to go and probably not enough time to get there in."

"We have plenty of time," sighed Demon, earning him a rather dark look from the ivory haired girl, though he seemed unconcerned, "Believe me on this at least, if we attempt to rush to the Briars and through them to find Lord Wrath, it will only cause us more unnecessary troubles. Not to mention it will only make the venture that much more dangerous than before."

"Danger, ha!" said Puck then, his emerald eyes glinting as he smirked. "I laugh in the face of danger! Ha ha ha!"

"Holy crap," said Nikki, craning her neck around to stare at him again, for an entirely different reason than before, "You just made a Lion King reference!"

"Like a sir," he said, smirking, which only served to amuse her further so she snorted with laughter.

"Only Robin Goodfellow," sighed Catherine, smiling faintly at her friend and the faery, barely managing not to wince as she shifted the pack on her shoulder, causing it to burn slightly.

"Indeed," said Trinity with a smirk of her own, "But can we go now. Please? I know I'm not the only one on pins and needles just raring to go. This isn't even my adventure, this is Cat's, and I know I'm not the only one aside from that's excited about this."

"Of course not," Puck said with an indignant sniff, "Danger, intrigue, a few random plot twists thrown in, tom foolery and such. If anyone's excited, it's me! I haven't been to the Briars since…" He counted off on his fingers, his brow furrowed with thought. "Damn…it's been almost a decade since the last time I went there!"

"My God, a whole decade," gasped Nikki in feigned horror, putting both hands to her mouth. "You must be just dying to get out there, Puck."

"Hey, don't laugh at a decade," he told her severely, though he was grinning as he straightened up, still holding her around the waist, and followed Trinity towards the front doors, "You haven't been alive for two decades!"

"I will in six months," she told him with a smile. "Then what will you have to say about it?"

"That you were still only nine years old the last time I went to the Briars," he said smartly, flashing her a smile and winking.

"Man, that makes you seem really old," she told him, and he snickered.

"You know like an older man," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her as they fell in behind Trinity. Puck gave a brief nod to Oberon as they passed the Summer King, who inclined his head in return as he watched them file out of the front entrance.

"How old are you anyway?" Catherine couldn't help but ask as she and Demon also followed the miniature parade out into the courtyard, heading for the main gate.

"Old enough to know better," he said with a lame shrug, glancing back to smirk at her.

"And you don't even have the excuse of being young enough to do it anyway," Nikki observed, glancing up at him through amused brown eyes.

"True, but I don't need an excuse," he said, turning his nose up.

"Because Robin Goodfellow needs no excuses," Nikki said with a knowing smile.

"I really don't," he said with a chuckle as he sauntered along, arm in arm with her, towards the briar gates.

Behind them, Catherine slowed suddenly as she rested her eyes on the main gate, which was slowly beginning to unwind itself from Trinity's way as the girl approached it, unafraid of the lethal thorns protruding from it, but Catherine actually stopped as she spotted a particular path of thorns, coated in deep crimson, barely noticeable against the reddish brown of the other barbs, but she saw it…and so did Demon.

As she stopped, he slowed as well, stepping a little ways past her, only to stop when she didn't immediately take up walking after him, and when he turned back it was to see a look of hesitancy and haunted remembrance on her face as she gazed at those thorns, no doubt reliving the events of the night before, and feeling that pain in her shoulder that the briars had been partially responsible for causing it. He didn't like seeing that pain in her jade eyes, or the way she continued to hesitate, even after Trinity, Nikki and Puck had already crossed through the gate and were waiting on the other side, looking back in confusion at her as she continued to linger.

Demon stepped back towards her with a small sigh, his yellow-green eyes darkening as she glanced up at him, giving him a full view of the fear in her eyes. He lifted a hand to her, palm up, and she looked at it in surprise, as though not entirely sure what she was supposed to do.

"Come on," he murmured softly, and she lifted her jade eyes to him, looking startled. "What did I say before we left, Catherine? What am I here for?"

She blinked at him, comprehension dawning in her eyes as she looked back down at his outstretched hand, then over to her friends as they came to stand at the edge of the gate, their expressions similarly reassuring and worried at once as they realized the cause for her hesitation.

She met Nikki's eyes as her friend looked at her, and Nikki gave her a reassuring smile, her dark eyes alight with warmth and a subtle glow of remorse. Trinity's expression was similar, though there was more a suppressed anger in her gaze than remorse, though Catherine knew it wasn't anger directed at her. Puck's expression was somber, a thing she hardly ever saw, but he smiled when she looked over at him, and flashed her a thumbs up.

"Catherine," Demon said again, drawing her attention back to him and his still outstretched hand, "What am I here for? I told you before, so you tell me now. What am I here to do?"

She met his yellow-green gaze as he stared at her, feeling her stomach turn over, but not in an unpleasant away, and for a moment she felt all the pain go out of her body, even from her shoulder, as she looked back at him, seeing the way he appeared to look straight into her soul, seeing more than she allowed.

"What am I here for?" he asked her once more, his voice low, quiet, his eyes narrowing behind his silvery bangs.

In spite of herself, and everything running through her mind as she stood there, just feet from the briar gate, she felt herself smile slightly at him.

"To protect me," she said quietly, and he nodded.

Still smiling faintly, she lifted her hand and gently put it in his, allowing his fingers to curl tightly around hers, his hand dwarfing hers in size as he drew her forward, leading her through the gates. She felt her heart give an unsteady jolt as they passed through the thorn laden gates, but the warm pressure of his hand around hers gave her the small push she needed to go through them without letting the memories of what had transpired there just hours before overwhelm her, though she couldn't quite keep Rowan's smirking face from dancing before her eyes as she glanced over towards the crimson soaked thorns for a final time before stepping past them and out of the grounds of Arcadia. Turning her eyes forward to her friends as they stood there, waiting, she wasn't even really aware of the quiet rustling of the gates closing behind her, and didn't look back as Demon continued to pull her gently forward, still holding her hand.

Nikki and Trinity smiled at her as she came up to them, and she heaved a deep sigh as she came to a slow stop in front of them, giving the best smile she could in return.

"Ready?" Nikki asked softly, and she nodded.

"Then let's get this circus on the road," said Puck with a jubilant whoop, punching a fist into the air, "We've got a King to find, a father to locate, and hell to raise during the times in between."

Catherine grinned as Nikki rolled her eyes in exasperation, and Trinity gave a rather derisive snort.

"And who says you're going to have time to raise hell?" the ivory haired girl demanded, hands on her hips as she faced Puck. "I am going to march you all into the ground before this all over and done with, and there will be no time for hell raising if I have anything to say about it."

"Oh, you're in charge, huh?" said Puck, giving the girl an appraising look as she smirked at him. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to sneak it in somehow, or I'll die of boredom."

"With all the fun we'll be having on the way, something tells me you won't be bored," Nikki informed him as they set off, Puck now taking the lead as he directed them towards the trod.

"It is probably true to suggest such a thing," he admitted with a lame shrug, grinning down at her, his emerald eyes alight with excitement. "After all, since I didn't get to give either Winter princeling a proper beating last night, I think it's fair to say I'm going to get all of my angst out during this trip."

Catherine didn't hear how Nikki responded to that, her mind lapsing back into the previous night's events as Puck's mention of the Winter princes. Gazing off into space, allowing Demon to lead her by the hand, she didn't really notice anything around her as her mind filled with the images of both Rowan and Sage. It seemed forever ago already that the things that had happened the night before had actually…well, _happened_…but she knew they had. Still, it was so hard to believe… She supposed it came with acknowledging that just a few short months ago she had been a normal college student, living a mediocre college life, making future plans for a human existence, and now she was here, in a place that hadn't existed until three months ago, at least in her mind, with her friends, discovering their new paths, and new goals. Until three months ago, she'd been satisfied with her life. She wouldn't go so far as to totally happy, but satisfied at least, now, as she followed Puck and Nikki and Trinity towards the trod that would really get them started on their journey, she wondered how she could have lived the plain life she had been for so long. Even thinking back on how, at one point, she'd questioned whether she would even stay in the Nevernever after the fact of everything that might happen, she couldn't believe she would ever be content to leave. Even if she did return to the Mortal Realm, it wouldn't be enough…she'd come back, because this where she belonged. Where they all belonged…

And no Prince, not even two of them, bent of taunting and tormenting her, was going to keep her, or anyone else, from staying where they belonged. Even if she never forgot Sage—because she knew she never would—it wouldn't matter, and even if Rowan came back time and time again to haunt her, and even if the wounds on her back never healed, she didn't care. She had a whole new life ahead of her with Nikki and Trinity, and Demon and even Puck. So wherever either Sage or Rowan was then, it didn't really make a difference. Even if Rowan wasn't receiving the punishment some might feel he was owed, she could get over all of that, because she had other things to think about.

"Well, ladies and germs!" Puck announced grandly some time later, drawing to a stop at the edge of a large patch of ferns and turning to the rest of the troupe with an enormous smile plastered across his face, "Here we be! Just over yonder is the trod! The pathway to our dreams! Our hopes! Our potential death sentences! Who's ready to run through it?!"

"I was until the last bit of your sentence," Nikki told him, giving him a rather weary expression. "Our potential death sentences? I'd rather stay here…"

"Oh, pah," snorted Puck, striding forward to seize the girl by the hand, "You have no sense of fun. It's no fun if you don't even have to worry a little about the personal wellbeing of your life."

"Funny philosophy you've got going there," she said, smirking, "Do you always keep that in mind when you go out adventuring?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," he said, grinning. "It's what makes the time spent running around such fun. Besides, if you don't risk your neck at least once in your life, you haven't accomplished a damn thing. Take it from someone who knows."

"Given all the times you've risked your neck, Goodfellow, I do not even want to consider you sane enough to be giving such advice," Demon informed the fey, who gave him a dirty look.

"Well, at least you know I'm not," said Puck, rolling his emerald eyes.

"Not what?" Trinity asked as the fey sauntered over—still holding Nikki's hand—to bend down next to the patch of ferns, looking for the trod.

"Sane," Puck answered, flashing a devious grin over his shoulder as he coiled his hand around a clump of ferns and pulled.

There was a loud click, and the outline of a door shimmered in the air briefly before the entrance to the trod actually solidified right before their eyes. Puck grinned at it as it swung open, revealing a misty landscape beyond, with not even the faintest hint of sunshine to be seen.

"That looks inviting," said Trinity uncertainly, peering through the door. "Nice and creepy, just the way I like it. Just what are we looking at here? Halloween Town?"

Puck snorted, rolling his eyes. "Just go," he told her exasperatedly when she continued to linger uncertainly on the threshold. "Before we all die of old age."

"I don't want to hear you dying of old age, sir," Nikki told him, turning to glare at him, "You have to be at least a thousand years old, so I don't want to even hear about old age bothering you."

"Madam," said Puck, aghast, "I am insulted! Do I really look _that _old to you? I am no older than a spry six hundred years old, and I'll thank you to remember it."

"Spry, he says," snorted Nikki, rolling her eyes while Trinity glanced over her shoulder to grin at them both. "Because six hundred is such a young, flowering age."

"He apparently thinks it—_eeek!_" Trinity let out a piercing shriek halfway through her humorous observation, and when they all jumped and looked around it was to see a hand in a metal gauntlet shackling her wrist as it tugged her forward, right through the doorway.

"Tri!" gasped Nikki, looking stricken, and had started forward when Puck threw out an arm to hold her back. "Hey!"

She looked up at him, alarmed, and saw him smirking at the open trod, his emerald eyes glowing with mirth.

"Puck," Nikki started furiously, but he clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her, put a finger to his lips, and pointed through the open door just as Trinity's irritated voice sounded from beyond.

"You _ass_! You scared the living hell out of me! What the hell was that for?!"

"It is wonderful to see you, too," said an amused voice from the other side of the door.

There was a loud slapping sound, and a small grunt of pain.

"Jerk!" snapped Trinity's voice as Catherine stepped forward to peer through the misty doorway to the land beyond, just able to make out several shapes in the dim light, two standing toe-to-toe, and a third lounging off a little ways.

"Tri," she called uncertainly, and one of the shapes turned towards her, "You okay?"

"Fine," snapped Trinity, sounding thoroughly annoyed, "Just Tertius deciding it'd be funny to scare the shit out of me is all."

"You should know better than to lurk in doorways," said a third voice, sounding faintly amused, coming from the shape lounging somewhat further off from the first pair.

"You stay out of this," the first shape snapped, turning right back around to point a finger at the other, which was taller and somewhat lankier as it finally pushed itself up from the tree it had been reclining against. "You're just as bad as he is!"

"Ouch," said the third shape, still amused. "Here that, Tertius? She thinks you're as bad as me. That's got be a bit of a blow on your ego."

"I have heard worse about myself," Tertius said, chuckling quietly, and Trinity snorted.

"You knew he was going to do that," Nikki accused Puck, who was snickering now, clearly entertained. "That's why you didn't let me go rushing in to help her!"

"Well, duh," he said, grinning hugely, his eyes alight with mischief. "She was so eager to see him and getting all antsy about how long we were taking, so I figured I'd do the civil, gentleman-like thing and let her have him."

"You didn't have to do it like that, though," Nikki told him, smacking his arm.

"Is there really another way it could have been done?" Catherine asked, grinning slightly as she approached the entrance to the trod and hesitantly stepped through. "Come on, Nik, you know that was funny."

As she set her foot down on the opposite side of the door, though, a jarring pain bolted through her shoulder, robbing her of breath and turning her vision black for a moment. When she regained her senses, she was kneeling on the ground with someone's arm around her for support, and Nikki and Trinity were both demanding to know if she was alright.

"Fine," she said feebly as they converged on her, her vision still winking with black spots as the sudden hurt abated as quickly as it had struck, "I'm…I'm fine…now…"

"Good grief, you scared me," Trinity told her, her blue eyes wide as she knelt in front of her friend, "What the hell just happened?!"

"I…" Catherine began, glancing nervously at her pair of friends, noticing that Tertius and Glitch had also moved forward, out of the mist, to stand over her, their expressions slightly concerned. Puck stood behind Nikki, his emerald eyes fixed on Demon rather than her, but she had the distinct impression he was questioning the Cait Sith without speaking, and confirmed those suspicions when she glanced back in time to see Demon nod mutely back at the fey.

"What's up with your shoulder, Cat?" Puck asked then, turning a skeptical gaze on her.

She felt her stomach lurch uncomfortably. "What?"

"Don't what me," he sighed, rolling his eyes and folding his arms over his chest. "That's the worst possible way to avoid the question. You could at least be creative. Some people tell me to fuck off; you could at least have gone with that."

"I wouldn't tell you that," she said, alarmed.

"Then answer the question, please," he sang at her, frowning while Nikki and Trinity simply looked bemused. "You said earlier your shoulder was bothering you, so I'd just like to hear what about it is being so painful, because it shouldn't be hurting _at all_, but it is. That's a problem. A big problem. And I'm sure Nik and Tri would like to hear the answer, too, because they worry about you more than I do."

Catherine felt her heart sink as she glanced at her friends now, seeing them give her nearly identical looks of bemusement and concern, and realized she had reached that point she'd talked about with Demon. The moment of truth…

"Alright," she sighed, beginning to push herself up, letting Demon assist her, still with his arm around her waist, "Fine, I'll tell you guys, but I want two promises before I do."

"Uh-oh," muttered Puck.

"Firstly," she said, finally back on her feet, her shoulder still throbbing, though nowhere near as horribly as it had a moment before, "I want you guys to promise you will not, under any circumstances, send me back to the castle, or ask me to stay behind anywhere, no matter what you might want to do after I tell you."

"I don't like that promise," Nikki said at once, her expression clearly reluctant, and Trinity nodded her agreement.

"Okay, then let's get moving," Catherine said, starting to walk off, knowing she wouldn't get far, and was again proven right when both Nikki and Trinity reached out and grabbed her by the arms, holding her back.

"Fine, we promise," Trinity said, a little desperately, her expression clearly outweighing her annoyance at Catherine's stubbornness. "We won't send you back, deal?"

"Deal," said Catherine, allowing them to draw her back between them. "My second promise that I want from you guys is that you will not go AWOL and go running off to murder a certain someone when I tell you, either. Trust me, Demon's already on the list for wanting to and he's got the same restrictions."

"I never conformed to those restrictions," Demon said idly from behind her, "As you never gave me such limitations."

"Well, I'm giving them now," she said, giving him a hard look over her shoulder to which he sighed and shook his head. "So, you can promise this just like they can. You won't go on a crusade to kill anyone, and you'll just sit and listen and trust me on my word, deal?"

Nikki and Trinity exchanged uncertain glances with each other over the top of Catherine's head, and Trinity even glanced over at Tertius as the Iron Knight stood off to the side with Glitch and Puck. He met her gaze, and gave a helpless shrug and a soft smile.

"Do we have a choice?" Trinity asked at last, heaving a sigh.

"There's always a choice," Catherine told her friend with a soft, almost apologetic smile, "I just make the choices difficult."

"You really do," Nikki agreed, even as she sighed, too. "Fine, you've got your promises. We won't make you stay behind or go off to kill anyone, no matter what we hear or think. Fair?"

"Fair," agreed Catherine, and then glanced at Trinity to make sure her blue eyed friend was on the same boat.

Trinity nodded in agreement, and Catherine nodded back.

"Right then," she sighed, looking around for a moment before settling herself neatly on the grass, and Nikki and Trinity, after a moment's hesitation, sank down beside her as well. Tertius and Glitch settled themselves by a pair of trees ringed in mist, and Puck made himself comfy at the roots, pulling an apple seemingly from nowhere and beginning to whittle chunks out of it with his daggers. Demon remained standing, his eyes on Catherine as the girl took a deep, steadying breath, his yellow-green gaze carefully blank.

Catherine turned her gaze onto her friends, wishing she could make their looks of worry go away, and knowing she couldn't, and that what she was about to tell them would probably not serve that purpose any better, but knowing there was really no other alternative. Her shoulder gave a dull throb of pain and she winced automatically, lifting a hand to clutch at it. The earlier spasm was still fresh in her mind, and she wondered just how often—if it continued to happen—that it would occur throughout the journey… More than that, she had to wonder just how Rowan's feelings and thoughts, either conscious or subconscious regarding her, really affected how much pain she felt… She wished she had a better idea, so she could more easily assure Trinity and Nikki, but she only had her guesses, and what Demon had told her for certain, so that was what she had to go on right now… For a moment, though, she almost wished she could make Rowan feel the same pain that he was making her feel, even if he wasn't aware of it. She knew it wasn't possible, so she could only hope for now that Mab was making good on her word to properly discipline her son, whatever that discipline might involve…


	30. Chapter 30

As the eldest in a line of siblings, destined for royalty, and having lived a good, prosperous eight hundred years, Sage liked to think he knew his mother well enough, even though he might not understand everything about her character, or personality. One would think a son should know such things about his own mother, but he had never really looked at Mab as his "mother", she was more the woman who had given birth to him, as far as relations went, and the woman who had given him a place to live and grow, but aside from that all of his raising had been done by nursemaids and his education seen to by his tutors. So he didn't make the false impression he knew anything about his mother, the Queen, outside of that when she was good and angry it was wisest to keep out of her way, and, if you could not manage that, then you were best off making yourself as meek and obedient as possible so she might go easier on you. Of course, if you were Rowan, that rule somehow did not seem to apply. Being Mab's "favorite son", Sage had noticed his younger sibling managed to get away with quite a lot where neither he nor their brother Ash had ever had, even though, for a short time, when Ash had been an infant, he had most definitely commandeered the position of favored son. However, that time had come and gone, and Ash was all but dead to Mab as far as things went. Rowan was the new favorite, and Sage merely the eldest of her little brood, and he was perfectly content with that, because he really didn't envy his brother at the moment as he stood off to the side of the throne room, watching Rowan's punishment in full swing.

And, really, it wasn't the lash of the whip that was quite as painful as the upward swing that had everyone cringing as they watched Mab bring the black leather cord up again before cracking it down on the back of the unfortunate slave in front of her. Really, Sage supposed he shouldn't be considered what he was watching Rowan's punishment. After all, it wasn't Rowan kneeling on the floor of the throne room, his bare back torn and ragged with wounds that seeped crimson blood, whimpering in pain at Mab's feet as the Queen paused in her vicious lashing. No, it was, in fact, Rowan's chosen whipping boy. As a Prince, Rowan of course had the luxury of being able to substitute a personal slave of his for his own self when it came to such things as this, and it wasn't the first time he'd done so, either. The times before, though, it had generally been a valet of some sort—as Rowan also had the habit of getting a new one every decade or so to keep himself entertained—but this particular time, he had employed one of his groomsman for his steed, though why bring a horse groomer in to stand-in for a punishment was beyond Sage. Either way, it seemed to entertain his brother as Rowan lounged on the steps leading up to Mab's thrown, his ice blue eyes fairly glowing with mirth as he watched Mab bring the whip down again with an echoing crack that left another deep gash oozing blood on the slave's back.

"You have disappointed me, Rowan," Mab said, her breath slightly ragged as she turned her narrowed black eyes on her youngest son, who, despite the malicious glow in his eyes, was doing a very careful job of keeping his face blank and emotionless. "You embarrassed me at Elysium, even considering the idea of approaching that half-breed when I had specifically stated she was to be left alone if she was ever discovered in the Nevernever again. You disobeyed me. Why?"

"I apologize, my Queen," Rowan said in a low, subdued voice, though he looked anything but compliant _or _sorry as he faced Mab, barely managing to keep a vindictive smile from his lips as he watched the servant on the floor slump forward slightly, his back stained with crimson. "I know you had told us to leave the half-breed alone, but I was too slighted by her to let such an opportunity pass."

"Your pride is insulting," Mab hissed at him, and another sharp crack of the whip had the servant give a low keening cry of pain. "You dared to humiliate me before Oberon, having to acknowledge that my own flesh and blood had dared to go against my word, even going so far as to put his hands on one of Oberon's personal guests, regardless of who she was. You made a fool of me before the Summer King and even the Iron Queen when he went to inform her of your misdeeds. Your own brother went to apologize in your place, though the crime was not his to seek forgiveness for. You shame your mother and your brother!"

Another crack of the whip sent blood spattering across the floor, and Sage gave a small sigh as the servant cried out in anguish, the white of bones now visible through the carnage of his torn and shredded flesh.

"You shame your court," Mab spat as she brought the whip down again, digging further into already butchered flesh, sending yet more scarlet droplets of blood spattering onto the ground, and even on the nearby walls. Some of the courtiers gathered there squealed in disgust as crimson fluid speckled them as well, staining their fine clothes. Redcaps around the room were in a near frenzy, leaping on the drops, licking them up with an almost desperate hunger, their eyes mad and eager for more as they stared at the trembling body of the servant as he knelt on the ground, his head down, his face a twisted mask of agony.

"I apologize, my Queen," Rowan murmured softly, bowing his head to Mab, "It will not happen again."

"Let us hope not," Mab said in a deceptively soft voice, a sudden change from her previous venom, though there was still deep fury in her black eyes as she fixed her son with a steely glare. "I would truly hate to have to punish you again, Rowan…I am already loath to do it this time."

"Yes, my Queen," murmured Rowan.

Mab threw down the whip at last, striding away from the servant, back towards her throne, and to where Rowan stood. Several waiting servants converged on the wounded groomsman, who was moaning softly in pain as they lifted him into their arms and quickly carried him from the room. The redcaps followed immediately, still licking up the fallen blood from the floor. Two leapt on the whip, beginning to fight over it, eagerly lapping at the soaked leather as they also followed their brethren from the room, cackling madly.

Sage watched them go with a rather bored expression, vaguely wondering if the other servants would really make the attempt to bother with saving their comrade or leave him for dead. In his condition as it was, he would most likely not be fit to see to the horses in the stables for quite a while, if at all. His best hope at this point was that the servants would at least put him in his room and lock out the redcaps, or he was as good as dead.

Heaving another sigh, he pushed himself off of the wall and turned to watch as Mab strode up to Rowan, who still stood at the steps of the thrown with his head bowed, though from his vantage point Sage could make out the tiniest of smirks on his brother's face before Mab reached out and seized his chin, yanking it up so she could stare into her son's ice blue eyes.

"Apologize to your mother," she commanded him in a soft voice, her fathomless eyes narrowed to pitch black slits. "You have disappointed me, Rowan…You know it is never good to disappoint me."

"Yes, mother," the Prince murmured obediently, taking her hand when she released his chin, and bending to press a kiss to it, "I am sorry for my disobedience. It shall never happen again…"

"Pray it does not, for your sake," she told him, snatching her hand away and moving past him towards her throne.

As she sank into it, her expression dramatically weary, several courtiers rushed to her side, offering food and drink that she waved away dismissively.

Rowan remained a moment longer to bow to Mab, and she also waved him away, and he turned on his heel and strode away from the throne. As he descended the steps, Sage witnessed the immediate appearance of Rowan's trademark smirk, and as his younger brother swept past him their eyes met for a brief moment, and Rowan's smirk broadened visibly before he turned away and vanished out of the throne room. A couple of female courtiers immediately went after him, their eyes bright with longing and excitement, giggling amongst themselves as they pursued Rowan. Sage rolled his eyes at the ceiling, feeling exceptionally weary of the whole affair, and moved slowly through the mass of courtiers, which was slowly dwindling now that Rowan's "punishment" was at its end, until he reached the steps leading up to the throne, where Mab sat, slowly massaging her temple and looking thoroughly irritated.

"My Queen," Sage murmured, genuflecting before her, and she glanced down at him as though just realizing he was there.

"Ah, Sage, my boy," she sighed, a smile appearing on her pale, mulberry lips, her dark eyes glinting as he straightened to face her, "Were you here the whole time?"

"Yes, my Queen," he said, meeting her dark gaze and feeling that familiar pluck of resignation to be answering her simple questions when he knew she already had the answers. It was a game she played all the time, and he was really quite tired of it. "I wonder if I might speak with you regarding my brother's punishment."

"Oh?" Mab arched a black brow at him, clearly interested. "Did you perhaps think it was too harsh on him?"

"I am afraid the opposite, my lady," he told her as he ascended the stairs to stand directly before her, a frown on his face, "You know it was far from harsh enough."

He knew telling Mab such a thing was toeing the line between respectfulness and brazen confrontation, but he also knew she would not be foolish enough to lash out at him, much as she might wish to. Their respect for each other was a mutual thing, not one of recognition of power, but more the knowledge that while he knew she could easily do away with him with so much as a flick of her wrist, she knew just as well that he could just as easily vanish for days or even months on end to his Lodge and not hear a word from him if she managed to rub him the wrong way. So while he might have done better not to speak in such a way to her, he would sooner face a decade sentencing himself to his Lodge than risk going without this little and much needed conversation.

"Do I know that?" she asked quietly, both eyebrows now rising as she considered him. "And why would you believe that this punishment was not adequate for how he embarrassed me?"

"You know as well as I do that Rowan has no care for his servants," Sage murmured, frowning at her as she drummed her manicured nails on the armchair of her throne, "The punishment you dealt was hardly a punishment for Rowan so much as entertainment. He enjoys the pain he gets to watch being invoked in others, and learns nothing. He may respect you enough to keep to his word, but it would be foolish to consider that he has learned anything about disobeying you from this display."

Mab eyed Sage for a long moment once he'd finished speaking, her expression one of a person who had just listened to an entire monologue and not really processed a word of it.

"Then what would you have me do?" she asked, casually waving her hand in the air, her dark eyes narrowing at him. "Shall I call him back and have the whip retrieved to physically beat him? Would that perhaps make the statement you are so desperate he learns? I have his word he will not disgrace me again, what more could I care to do?"

Sage resisted the urge to sigh, knowing that this was their impasse. She wouldn't hear another word, and he would be wasting his breath trying to convince her further. Why he had even considered he might make an impression in the first place was questionable. Mab never really paid his advice much attention, though as the eldest son and one of the oldest in the entire Court, one would have thought that perhaps she would at least pretend to be interested in his observations. But, after eight hundred years of her indifference, he really had to point the finger at himself for even half believing he might get her to lend an ear to him.

"Nothing at all, my lady," he murmured, bowing his head to her, "Forgive me for bringing up such a needless topic."

"Mm," said Mab, past caring at that point as he straightened up again to look at her through icy emerald eyes. "If that is all, Sage, perhaps you might go find your brother and offer some comfort. I am sure after today's activities he is sure to be exhausted and might be glad of your company for a while."

"Is there nothing my Queen requires of me currently?" he inquired, and Mab shook her head.

"Nothing for now," she sighed, and he dipped his head in understanding.

"Very well, my Queen," he murmured, taking a step back towards the stairs. "I will leave you in peace."

"Oh, one more thing, before I forget," Mab said, calling him to a halt in the middle of turning away from her.

"Yes, my Lady?" he asked, looking back at her, hoping whatever she had to say would not be something he dreaded.

"When I spoke with Rowan earlier," Mab said, looking down at her eldest son through pitiless black eyes, "Before we commenced his punishment, I had already mentioned he was not to go bothering Oberon's newest half-breed again, Catrina, or whatever she was called…"

"Catherine," Sage corrected her automatically, drawing startled looks from some of the nearby courtiers lingering around Mab's throne. Even Mab herself raised an eyebrow.

"Catherine, then," the Queen said, appearing dismissive, but her eyes scrutinized him thoughtfully as she went on, "And though I have his word that he will not dare to insult me again with such brazen disregard for my orders, perhaps you might further impress upon him, as his elder brother, just the kind of disrespect it would do me if he ended up slipping through a loophole in my orders again and approaching that half-breed wench. Do you think you might do that for me, dear?"

"Of course, my Queen," murmured Sage, bowing low to her.

"Such a good boy," Mab purred, smiling at him as he looked back at her. "Well, then, go along now to your brother. I will call on you both later to attend dinner."

"Yes, my Queen."

Sage turned and descended the steps from the throne, moving swiftly across the room under the watchful eyes of the courtiers. He could feel Mab's stare on him as he reached the entrance to the hall, where Bane sat waiting patiently for him, and only when he had stepped out of sight of his mother and the other attendants did he allow himself to relax, only the slightest bit.

Bane leveled an amber stare at him as he swept by, and rose to his paws to follow his master as he set off along the hall, angling towards where he imagined Rowan had gone.

"How did you fair, my Prince?" Bane asked softly as he loped along beside Sage.

"Not as well as I might have hoped," Sage admitted in a low voice, pausing as he heard a faint giggle down one of the halls, and, turning, spotted the two female courtiers from earlier standing at the end of it.

Rowan was not with them, but judging by the way they kept peering around the corner of their end of the hall, they were most certainly spying on his younger brother as he did whatever he might be doing.

Sighing softly, wondering just what Rowan could already have done now to get such interest from two girls other than his usual antics, Sage turned on his heel and swept down the hall towards the girls, Bane at his side. As he approached them, the sidhes turned to look at him, their eyes widening a fraction in surprise to see him, and flirtatious smiles blossoming across their face.

"Prince Sage," they crooned in the usual manner he was accustomed to receiving from the females of the Court, "How can we help you?"

"I am looking for my brother," he informed them curtly, stopping just short of them, and looking down from his much greater height, watching their eyes rake hungrily over him and resisting the urge to roll his own.

"Rowan?" one of them chimed, and he didn't miss how she inched closer to him, just enough to rest a hand lightly on his arm. "He's in the study. I think he is waiting for someone."

"Rowan does not wait for anyone," Sage informed her, shrugging off her hand as she inched even closer, batting her lashes at him, "Please, excuse me."

He moved around them, narrowly avoiding the other's hand as she reached out discreetly for him, and striding down the hall. Behind him, he heard both girls give a small sigh of disappointment, and heard one of them whisper,

"They always play so hard to get! Even Prince Ash…!"

But he didn't hear the rest of it as he strode out of earshot of them, tuning them out as he approached the study at the end of the hall, whose doors were flung wide to reveal the inside where he could see Rowan lounging on one of the fur couches just inside, a book propped on his chest as he read.

Narrowing his emerald eyes, Sage quickened his pace and strode right into the study, Bane still following close behind him at a brisk trot, and as he stepped inside he briefly paused to turn and close the doors behind him, effectively blocking any prying eyes from watching him, and he could distinctly hear the disappointed moans of the two sidhe girls in the hall as he barred them from any further visual entertainment.

"Aw, I was enjoying the audience," Rowan said, lowering his book to smirk at his elder brother as Sage turned to face him. "And they were enjoying the show."

"If two noble women have nothing better to do than stand there like statues and gush over you reading, I fear what may become of our Court if they are left to reproduce among our noble men," Sage told him drily, to which Rowan's smirk only broadened.

"Sometimes I think you are simply jealous of the attention I get, brother," sighed the younger Prince, lifting his book back up.

"I could care less about how many fawn over you," Sage informed him, "Otherwise I might have been more than happy to allow those simple females continue to put their hands all over me as though I am some pet to be caressed."

"You really need to loosen up a little, Sage," Rowan told him, idly turning a page of the tome in his hands, "An 800 year old virgin isn't exactly something of a merit, though why you haven't broken the tradition yet is still something of a shock and a mystery to me."

"I see no reason in permitting myself to become as scandalous as you, Rowan," Sage replied.

"Dear brother, even your youngest sibling Ash, with all his virtues and morals, gave up that old fashioned ideal long ago," sighed Rowan, finally dropping his book onto his chest and giving Sage a look that bordered on pity. "A good four hundred years younger than you, and he has still beaten you to the finish line."

"I was not aware this was a contest," Sage said, arching a dark brow. "Nor do I particularly care for your challenges."

"You are such a prude," Rowan said with a laugh, tossing his book aside and pushing himself up to smirk at his elder sibling. "Really, Sage, even Mab is a little ashamed of how long you're taking to break your celibacy. At the very least, you could tell us both whether or not you have some kind of alternative interests outside of the women at court. I am sure Mab would understand, and I most certainly would."

Sage gave Rowan a look of utter disgust as his younger sibling smirked broadly at him, his tone clearly insinuative.

"Do you really have nothing better to assault my pride with than that?" he asked Rowan tiredly, and Rowan snickered.

"It has to be asked, brother," the younger prince responded, stretching out his long legs across the couch and reclining back, arms behind his head. "You have more than enough woman throwing themselves at you, just begging for the chance to share your bed, or even _a _bed, with you, and you act as though they have contracted some repugnant disease or you might turn to stone if you so much as look at one of them."

"I have better things to be doing than entertaining the erotic fantasies of some sexually frustrated noble woman," Sage told him curtly, to which Rowan arched an eyebrow and smirked.

"You might like it more than you're letting yourself think," the younger Prince told him idly, "The whole institution of sex isn't always about what the woman wants, you know…"

"Your whole attitude about it is part of the reason I am so opposed to it," Sage informed him. "Why should I bother myself with something so needless when there would be no future merit from it and you having spent the last four hundred years nagging me to do so? If you are really so desperate for that kind of entertainment, perhaps you should go consult with someone who would be more than willing to conform to your desires."

"You act as though I am some kind of notorious peeping tom," sighed Rowan, looking hurt, though the gleam in his eyes said he was still in full scheming mode. "Really, Sage, what do you think of me?"

"Nothing altogether flattering, as you well know, Rowan," Sage replied, narrowing his emerald eyes as he moved to take a seat on the opposite couch from his brother, crossing his ankles as he sank back into the fur throws that covered the furniture piece. Bane loped over to take up residence by the fireplace, carefully ignoring the Princes as he curled up on the hearth with his head on his paws.

"Oh, now that is a little hurtful, Sage," sighed Rowan, pouting at his elder brother, who was not in the least bit sorry as he continued to watch his sibling from his designated seat. "You really don't care about me at all?"

"Caring about you and what I think about you are entirely different entities," Sage replied calmly, "Do not confuse them. You are old enough to know the difference, so if you would stop acting like a petulant child, I would be more inclined to keep your company."

"You only keep my company because mother asked you to," sighed Rowan, rolling his blue eyes at the ceiling as he put his hands behind his head, smirking. "Don't think I didn't hear that little conversation before you came here."

"So you eavesdrop as well as seduce in your spare time," Sage scoffed, "How fitting for you."

"Don't be so sore," Rowan said, tapping his foot lightly against the side of the couch, as though in time to an imagined beat of music. "I wasn't doing any harm, you know, and is there anything wrong with wanting to check up on my elder brother when he decides to step up and actually engage in conversation with our mother? After all, you've never really entertained Mab with your company unless she absolutely requires it. Your voluntary approach had me curious. Of course, I'm a little wounded that your only motivation was to see if you could get me in more trouble than I already was."

"Not into more trouble, Rowan, just into the proper amount of discipline," Sage contradicted him softly, "You never receive the punishment you should, and, as such, you never take Mab's threats seriously."

"Why should I?" asked Rowan with a small yawn, clearly bored of the conversation already. "She never carries out her threats against us personally. We are her sons, after all, why would she ever discipline us so publicly in court? That aside, as the favorite, I think I am much better off than anyone else in the Court when it comes to her retaliation, don't you agree?"

"I really wonder if taking a whip to your hide would be enough to straighten your way of thinking," Sage murmured with a small snort of derision, "You are so hopelessly bloated with your own imagined importance."

"Are you saying I am not important?" inquired Rowan, arching an eyebrow at his brother, a dark leer coming onto his face.

"Nothing of the sort," Sage said. "Merely that you seem to enjoy humoring yourself with fantasies of being doted on by our mother."

"She dotes on me in her way," Rowan sighed, looking amused. "Though I suppose from anyone else's standpoint you could say we have been thoroughly denied any love and affection from her. But after six hundred years of being brought up as we have been I think I'd be rather frightened if she were to suddenly throw herself on me with such devotion and attention."

Sage had nothing to say to that, and merely sighed, lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. This was why he absolutely detested having to be in his brother's company. Two hundred years of age difference and totally different personalities rendered their interactions almost useless except in managing to give him a headache, and leaving him irritable. And he cared for neither side effect of his conversations with Rowan. Rowan, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it a great deal, though considering he knew he got under Sage's skin and left him very much annoyed it was no surprise he rather liked being able to sit and talk with his elder brother. It was just another one of his sadistic, childish ways of getting noticed. Of course, since Sage had taken nearly five hundred years of Rowan's life to even acknowledge he had a younger brother it was also no wonder Rowan was quite so bitter. Rowan was not used to being ignored, as he had always been doted on and pampered by nearly everyone in the Court, Mab included, and he did not take well from his siblings denying him the one thing he truly desired above anything else. Total and utter attention and respect. Well, Sage was not going to humor him by giving him what he already had in exceeding amounts from everyone else who was foolish enough to indulge Rowan. He was only glad that Ash had had a similar way of thinking and had completely disregarded Rowan as well as Sage himself had.

That had been the one thing he'd had in common with his youngest sibling, aside from their reluctance to be as obedient to Mab as anyone else. When Mab had gotten needy, Ash had vanished into the wyldwood, hunting and training, and Sage had retreated to his Lodge, hidden entirely from Mab. They had had their own little escapes, and in that way had at least some semblance of a bond. But Sage and Rowan was an altogether different story. They had nothing in common except the blood of their mother that tied them together. Not even their sires had been the same.

"So, if you didn't come here to make me feel all better as Mab requested you to," Rowan drawled then, pulling Sage from his reverie, "What did you decide to nag me for?"

"Nothing of severe consequence," Sage replied casually, dropping his hand to his lap and fixing Rowan with a rather bored look, "Only to reinforce the fact that you are not to harass the half-blood if you encounter her again."

"Ah, is that all?" sighed Rowan, and he pretended to look disappointed. "You're not even going to talk to me about what a good job I did with her?"

"You act as though assaulting a lady at court is something to be proud of," said Sage, not quite able to disguise his disgust as he eyed his brother, who chuckled darkly.

"A lady, is she?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Sage. "Really, now, I thought a half-breed was a half-breed. Unless, of course, it is that Iron Queen we all know and love so dearly. Oh, and the General's daughter, of course, but I don't really find much interest in her, outside of the potential she has to get me what I want."

"The General's daughter?" asked Sage, his eyebrows shooting up. He remembered seeing the girl at Elysium.

He had to admit, he'd been rather amazed by how alike she and the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase, looked to one another, though he had noted the General's Daughter—hadn't her name been Trinity?—was slightly more willowy than the Iron Queen. She had also had a bit more of a fiery temperament, just based on what he had witnessed when she and his brother had been dancing through the gathering hall.

"And why would she give you what you want?" he asked then, looking inquiringly at Rowan, who smirked.

"Because she won't really have a choice," the younger Prince chuckled, and Sage was immediately suspicious.

"I hope you are not about to tell me that you are going to make a brazen assault on her as you did with the other half-blood," Sage said, his tone warning.

"Not quite in that manner, no," Rowan said evasively, letting his blue eyes close, though his smirk remained firmly in place.

"Rowan, this is not even amusing, just what are you up to?" Sage demanded, and Bane perked his ears at the definite note of annoyance in the Prince's voice.

"Why do you care?" sighed the younger Prince, cracking one eye open to give his brother a questioning look. "Do not tell me you actually care for that little wench."

"I do not care at all for the girl," Sage said coolly, "But if you were to start something like that, whatever it may be you are planning, you might just as well invite chaos into the Court personally. Oberon might have been lenient on your assault on the Cait Sith's half-breed, but he will not tolerate you making a mockery of his General's only child and heir, especially not if you cause a disgrace at all similar to the one you did to Catherine."

"Oh, you remember her name, do you?" Rowan asked, both eyes opening now and gleaming with malicious interest as he turned to look fully at his brother, the devil's smirk on his face.

"It is not a particularly difficult name to remember, especially when you made such a racket about her a month and so ago when she managed to escape," Sage answered, though somewhere in the back of his head he could hear the warning bells going off. Rowan was up to no good, as usual…

"Really, now?" Rowan inquired, not sounding at all like he believed that. "So tell me, brother dear, since we didn't manage to discuss it last night or early this morning, how did you and the Lady Catherine enjoy your dance together? I noticed the Lady was crying as you held her. I hope you didn't say anything too horrible."

"Now who is caring for the feelings of half-bloods?" asked Sage sardonically.

"Caring and being curious is different, dear brother," Rowan purred at him, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his hand, the look on his face reminiscent of a hungry predator about to make its kill. "And there are many things that make me curious about that little half-breed kitten."

"And what would some of those things be, exactly?" Sage asked, drumming his fingers lightly on the arm of the couch as he eyed his sibling.

"Well, for instance," said Rowan casually, dark amusement in his voice, "Just what is a Winter Cait Sith half-breed doing in the Summer Court?"

Sage's emerald eyes flashed at his brother's words, and he felt a small flicker of surprise.

"Winter?" he murmured, and Rowan's lazy smirk grew. "What do you mean Winter Cait Sith?"

"Precisely what it sounds like," Rowan purred back, "She is of Winter. I could taste the frost in her blood."

"Her blood…" Sage's memory triggered itself, bringing up a moment, seemingly already ages past, where Mab was speaking heatedly with Rowan in the carriage as it carried them back to Tir Na Nog, demanding to know why her precious son would stoop so low as to take the blood of a weak Cait Sith half-breed. "So, you really did take the girl's blood…Just how far does your sadism go, little brother?"

"Farther than you might think," chuckled Rowan, his eyes glinting malevolently. "And it was not as though I hurt her in doing so. She impaled herself on that gate and I was merely administering to her wounds. Is that such a bad thing?"

"Perhaps not, but the idea that you would even consider drinking the blood of a half-human is more than a little disconcerting," Sage murmured, "You are not a redcap, so I do not see why you entertain similar fancies to theirs."

"Oh, don't be overdramatic, Sage," Rowan snorted, rolling his blue eyes. "It is not as though I make a ritual out of drinking blood; it was only for the enjoyment of the moment. If only you could have seen how she squirmed."

Sage cocked an eyebrow at the glee that injected itself into his brother's voice. He had known Rowan was sadistic, sometimes beyond all boundaries, even towards his own kin, but there was something truly disturbing about the image of his younger brother trapping the girl, Catherine, and deliberately drinking her blood that unsettled him. In his mind, it was like watching the fabled vampires of human lore, only in the pale monster's place he saw his brother bending over the half-blood's torn neck, his lips coated in scarlet.

He quickly dispelled the image and sighed as he looked Rowan.

"So you took her blood for the sadistic enjoyment of it, and discovered she is of Winter. Why does that matter in any way to your plans for the General's daughter?" he asked.

"Ah, you really are naïve, even for someone of your age, aren't you, brother?" Rowan asked, sounding almost pitying as he looked back at Sage. "The two half-bloods are close friends, and you yourself know how slighted I've been by the kitten's little escape. When I approached her last night, it was to see just how much threatening it would take to make her crawl back to me, but she is a strange little wench. No matter what I threatened, though she was undoubtedly terrified of being cornered by me, she didn't give any of the reactions I was hoping for. It wasn't until I brought her friend into the picture that she started being compliant. Fascinating really, how she'd give up almost anything to keep her friend safe, without any regard for herself."

"Mortals have a strong moral code," Sage reminded his brother calmly, "You can't have failed to have learned that over the centuries."

"Mortals _used _to have a strong moral code," Rowan said with a small smirk, "Nowadays they practically tear each other apart to get where they desire to be. Like redcaps, they have no care for the harm they cause others, which is what makes that kitten so particularly intriguing. Why would she risk so much for one person? Why would she put herself in harm's way for the sake of someone who might not even repay the favor?"

"Not all humans look to have favors repaid as we do, Rowan," Sage murmured, narrowing his frosty emerald eyes.

"True," agreed Rowan with a small nod, "But, still. What kind of bond could they possibly have outside of their friendship that would make her willing to give herself up to me? And she would have, too…she almost did, until her knight in shining armor came to her rescue. That really ruined my mood last night, even before mother decided to chastise me for my apparently "unseemly" behavior at Court."

"You would have demanded her to surrender herself in exchange for the safety of her friend?" Sage asked, a little stunned, but more annoyed than anything else.

"Why not?" Rowan asked, looking unbothered by his brother's glare. "I am owed what is mine. All that is Winter is mine to hold, and she is of Winter."

"You know that is not how it works," Sage told him coldly. "And if you continue to interpret our laws to your advantage, I am afraid you will end up in a very sore position by the end of it. You think Mab will permit you to engage with that half-blood again? You have already given your word you wouldn't approach her."

"I did, and I intend to honor my word," Rowan said quietly, but Sage could see the dark amusement in his brother's sapphire gaze, "Which is why the General's daughter is necessary in all of this. I made no vow to keep away from her, so there would be no disrespect of my oath to Mab. All I need is for the half-breed cat to come running in to keep me from her friend, then she will have approached me first and there is nothing I can have done about that. And if she decides to make an oath with me, then I am not in the wrong to agree to it if she is the one to suggest it in the first place."

"And there you go again, twisting everything to your advantage," sighed Sage, utterly exasperated. "And as for the girl approaching you first, you would have given her no choice but to do so if you are endangering her friend, as you know she will react if she sees or hears that you have come so close to the General's daughter. As for the oath, you have already planted the idea in her mind, and she knows what you want, so in all respects, you will have made the first move."

"I only made the first move before it was forbidden for me to do so," said Rowan, unabashed. "Now it is all a matter of how she chooses to react. I am not breaking my oath, and as I doubt she has sworn any to remain away from me I do not see what the problem is."

"I merely do not know why you seem to think starting a conflict with a half-blood of Oberon's court is any way beneficial to you, Rowan," Sage responded curtly. "And you are assuming that—oath or no oath—Mab would let you go unpunished if she ever found out about your plans. Not to even mention what might happen if it turns out that the Cait Sith half-blood does not react as you anticipate and you decide to harass the General's daughter further. Even Oberon would become involved, then."

"You seem to be assuming Mab would find out about this," Rowan sighed, looking rather amused as he gazed over at Sage.

"You assume she won't," Sage answered quietly.

"I assume nothing, dear brother," Rowan answered him with a dark smile, "I know Mab will not find out. Though I am still very curious why you seem so against me using my abilities against either of the half-bloods. I must admit, you are very vehement in denying me the chance to get what is mine. I don't quite remember you being so adamant about refusing me something I have a right to, whether it be a physical object or a person."

"You made an oath with Mab not to approach the half-blood," said Sage, narrowing his eyes.

"And why does that apply to you in any way?" asked Rowan, arching a brow. "Before now, you would not have even lifted a finger in defiance of my wishes, regardless of what Mab has said. I honestly do not believe our mother has threatened you in any way if I end up disgracing her again, so why the sudden interest?"

"Because this is possibly the most childish venture you could have conceived of," Sage told him. "It is almost as though you are pining over the half-blood, or perhaps you are merely being defiant of Mab's orders because you have nothing else to entertain yourself with."

"I do not pine over anything, brother," Rowan murmured, "And Mab is hardly part of this. I merely want what is mine, as I always have. The half-blood is nothing more than a toy."

"Mab would be livid if she knew what you were even thinking of doing," muttered Sage, lifting his hand to his temple as it gave a rather nasty throb. He was really going to have a headache later…

"And, again, you are assuming she would find out," Rowan observed with a small chuckle.

"What makes you believe I would not tell her?" inquired Sage, lifting his emerald gaze to Rowan's sapphire one.

The look the younger Prince gave him was so cruelly amused that for a moment Sage just had to wonder if Rowan would not leap up from the couch and drive a dagger through his living heart for all the malevolence that one look contained. And not only that, but for some reason what Sage had just said struck Rowan as amusing, for the moment after he'd spoken Rowan threw his head back and laughed. Not just a chortle of malice, but a full, roaring laugh that had Bane lifting his head in alarm. Sage merely sat there, gazing in total bewilderment at his brother. He really had no idea what was getting Rowan so giddy, but something told him it was nothing he would enjoy hearing at all. But even with that feeling, Rowan seemed to be feeling the obligation to tell him in any case. As the younger prince finally seemed to calm down, his riotous laughter dwindling to a mirthful chuckle, he fixed his amused blue eyes on Sage, and that purely malevolent smile stretched even wider.

"Oh, my poor, naïve, stupid older brother," he sighed, his tone mockingly pitying, "Do you really want to go and tell Mab something as inane as that when I have something so much more tantalizing to intrigue our mother Queen? About you and a certain little half-blood?"

Sage felt the faintest of stirrings in his gut, and a silver warning bell rang out in his head for the second time in his mind as e narrowed his emerald eyes at Rowan, but gave no other indication that his brother's words had touched him in any way.

"Just what are you trying to say, brother?" he asked quietly.

Rowan's predatory smile widened, and he slowly straightened up on the couch, ice blue eyes glinting.

"That you played me for a fool," he murmured, cocking his head to one side, "When I asked you before if you were protecting and hiding that little half-blood kitten. I believed you then, but not anymore. You gave me the slip, dancing around the truth. I must admit, I'm proud of you for that; I never thought you'd actually master that particular art form. You've always been so direct and all. But then again, to think you go so far to shelter a precious little wench like that, as well as to protect your own neck, is quite shocking."

"Get to the point, Rowan," murmured Sage, his voice lowering, "Just what are you accusing me of?"

"I asked you before if you protected and hid Lady Catherine from me," Rowan said, the devilish smile still plastered on his face, "You said no. You weren't lying, but you weren't telling the truth, either. You didn't protect her, you merely gave her a place to stay, and you didn't hide her. You kept her in plain sight, just putting up the appropriate measures to ensure no one could interfere. Very clever. I applaud you for your wit. But now comes the real test of mental capability, and I have to wonder if you'll be able to outwit me on this…"

Sage did not move or speak, and merely sat facing Rowan as his brother rose to his feet and moved across the room towards him. There was dark satisfaction in the younger Prince's glittering blue gaze, and the confident way in which he sauntered forward boasted his triumph.

"I wonder," murmured Rowan, fairly purring now, "How you would get away with this treason if Mab ever found out. How would you explain to our Queen, our mother, that you aided and abetted a wanted runaway, especially when I mention how the cold of Winter flows in that girl's veins? You helped her get away from us the second time, and even if you didn't know she was of Winter then it won't make any difference now. It's enough that you helped her at all."

"So," murmured Sage, leveling a cold stare at his brother, "You'll blackmail me to keep my silence? Is that how this is going to work?"

"Only if you won't keep quiet any other way," Rowan purred in answer, smirking down at his elder brother, "If you won't make a fuss and just leave me to my own devices I really don't need to blackmail you, but if you try and one-up me and spoil my fun, you won't be giving me a choice. An eye for an eye, as the mortals say."

"You think tempting a war with Summer over one girl is fun?" Sage asked quietly. "If you harm the General's daughter, you will be calling for a blood bath."

"And you think one girl is worth a war?" Rowan inquired, chuckling as he turned an about face and returned to his couch. "Oberon may dote on the General's bastard child, but wouldn't be foolish enough to start a war over her disgrace."

"He would if you were the culprit," retorted Sage, "You have already made yourself a target because you were foolish enough to push yourself on the half-blood Cait Sith."

"And you care?" Rowan threw his sibling a mocking smile. "You care about the poor little kitten? Is that why you went to apologize for me, though Mab didn't send you? You pitied the little cat and wanted to make sure she was alright?"

"I care about your childish whims getting us into an unnecessary war," Sage told him curtly.

"Then do not panic yet, brother, there won't be a war if I get exactly what I want," Rowan sighed, reclining on the couch, hands behind his head, smirking. "Oberon's new ornament is only a means to get what I'm really after. So long as the other active player in the game makes the proper move, the proverbial queen can remain in play. I'm just after the pawn for now."

"A queen for a pawn?" Sage frowned. "Perhaps you have misconstrued the value of your pieces and those of your opponent."

"Or perhaps you are too blind to see the potential value of the pawn in question," Rowan suggested idly, lifting a hand and snapping his fingers. Immediately, a chessboard appeared in the air before him, the pieces of black and clear ice all line up. Two armies posed for battle.

Rowan reached forward, plucking the white queen from the board and holding it up to inspect it, the blue firelight turning the clear ice to a dazzling sapphire.

"A queen is a powerful asset," Rowan said, speaking almost to himself as he turned the chess piece over and over between his long fingers, "She can move, unrestricted, across the board. Forwards, backwards, diagonally and horizontally. In chess, she is considered the key player, the most powerful of all. But, in the end, she will always be a queen and nothing else. Everyone will know what she is and what she will be. She is, in all reality, a dud. She is chained to her designated path, and always will be. Until the day she dies."

Rowan threw the frozen chess piece down, and as it struck the ground it shattered into hundreds of glittering fragments, almost like diamonds and sapphires glistening on the hearth. Sage gazed down at the devastated piece, impassive, until Rowan pulling another piece from the still suspended chessboard drew his emerald gaze back up.

"Unlike the Queen," Rowan murmured, gently balancing a crystal clear pawn in the center of his hand, "The pawn can become anything. Even from the beginning it is different, given the choice either to leap forward on the board, or simply step quietly into existence. Seemingly insignificant, as it is restricted to only one move and one direction, only occasionally shifting from its path when an enemy becomes foolish and unwary enough to step into its circle. But it can only attack from an angle, never straightforward…And then, if it survives long enough to make it to the other end of the board, it can transform, or even remain the same. It can become anything. A rook, a bishop, a knight, or even a queen. It could become the most valuable piece on the entire board and no one-not even the player moving it—knows what it could become until it gets there...And that it was makes the pawn so valuable."

Smirking, he tossed the chess piece to Sage, who caught it easily, and glanced down at the little ice pawn, turning it idly in his hand.

"So," murmured Sage, lifting his emerald eyes, "If the pawn is your goal, and the queen merely a tool to get to it, just who have you marked as your goal, if the General's half-blood serves as the queen?"

"Have you not been listening, dear brother?" sighed Rowan, giving Sage a sardonic smile. "I want what is mine. What you kept from me."

Sage's eyes narrowed as Rowan smirked at him.

"The Cait Sith half-blood?" he murmured, arching a slender brow. "That's who you're really after? What good is she, other than your toy?"

"You really are blind, Sage," Rowan laughed. "How can you not see the potential in her? A half-blood Cait Sith… Have you ever heard of such a thing? In all 800 years of your existence, have you?"

Sage couldn't honestly say he had, at least not before he'd met Catherine. Still, what did it matter?

"So?" he asked, sounding bored.

"So?" Rowan chuckled. "So, poor, ignorant brother, a half-blood, Winter faction Cait Sith… The potential power in her is so tantalizing to think about, and she doesn't even know who she is. Of course, I don't either, but that isn't particularly important to me. What is important is control. Total control over that power."

"And what if she doesn't have the power you are seeking to control?" inquired Sage. "You would only be controlling a mere half-blood."

"And that is the other half of my drive," said Rowan, "Being able to control her at all. As I said, she doesn't yield easily, and she is protected from all sides like some precious gem. Her friends would give anything to protect her, the same as she would for them. She nearly herself up to me when I threatened the General's daughter, and if not for that little interruption, she would have… Bringing her to her knees is just too tempting to pass up…"

"So you want to break her," murmured Sage quietly, his hand fisting around the pawn he held, "Devastate her totally…And then what? Just boast about what you've accomplished?"

"Perhaps," mused Rowan, his blue eyes thoughtful as he gazed up at the chessboard above him, "Or maybe I'll make a pet of her… She is so cute, after all…"

"Cute, is she?" asked Sage, snorting derisively as he looked at his brother. "How did you even come to that conclusion when you treat all half-bloods as though they are filth you happened to trod in?"

"Oh, but she is different, brother, as I seem to have to keep repeating for your sake," chuckled Rowan, glancing sideways at his sibling. "If only you could have seen her last night. Really, she is even more adorable when she is all flustered and confused…I was actually surprised it didn't take much glamour to sway her."

"What are you saying now, Rowan?" asked Sage wearily, feeling a tick going in his forehead that he rather wished would go away.

"Despite all the gossip of how I assaulted the little kitten, everyone seems to keep leaving out that I helped her, too," Rowan commented idly, lifting his hands to grasp the chessboard and pull it down to his chest, eyeing the remaining pieces on the board with lazy disinterest.

"Did you?" Sage asked, arching an eyebrow at his brother, who smirked.

"I did," Rowan purred, looking very satisfied with himself, for no apparent reason. "Everyone keeps failing to mention how the dashing Winter Prince swooped in to save the Lady's virtue from being robbed from her by a herd of mentally depraved satyrs while she was out in the courtyard weeping after she had endured some kind of trauma in the arms of the Prince's elder brother. That definitely caused quite a stir once people realized she had been crying while she danced with you."

Rowan leveled a malicious stare at his sibling, and to his credit Sage did not so much as blink, but merely sat there as Rowan went on in a low drawl,

"Some thought perhaps you had spoken harshly to her, or denied her confession of everlasting love, though I sincerely doubt either one would have set her off quite as much as it did. She never really did answer the question, though, which was unfortunate, though we did have a really nice chat about you otherwise. Of course, she did just as good a job as you did playing around with the truth, _protecting _her protector, though why she even bothered is beyond me. Maybe she fancies you after all."

Rowan gave a rather cruel chuckle, and Sage remained carefully impassive, merely watching as his brother smirked over at him, clearly enjoying his little rant.

"And what makes you think she fancies me?" Sage inquired, eyebrows up.

"Well, not every girl goes to pieces in your arms, do they, dear brother?" Rowan asked with a small glint of amusement in his ice blue eyes. "Not to mention out in the courtyard as she was paying her favor to me for her earlier rescue, what with a little glamour involved, I did get some very interesting reactions out of her."

"And just what did you do to her, Rowan?" asked Sage, to which Rowan chuckled again.

"It was just a little kiss was all," he said in feigned innocence, shrugging his shoulders. "Though, at first, she acted like it was some kind of crime the way she refused me. Even with the glamour she somehow managed to shake me off, though I did enjoy the few seconds she was lost in whatever fantasy she was having… Really, I don't think I've ever had such fun glamouring myself up just to see what a woman would think. And I even went so far as to use glamour that allowed her imagination to form the image I took, and I'm just so curious now to wonder who it was… I tried to get her to say the name of the man she was seeing, considering she stood there like a dumbfounded little piskie saying "It can't be you" but somehow she managed to break away before she could give me what I wanted to hear. Still, maybe I'll get the answer yet."

Sage did not answer. Rowan's words had struck a chord in him he had not expected them to, and he sat there in stony silence, his mind replaying images he had thought he had carefully sealed away. Two weeks ago, away at his Lodge… That seemingly insignificant kiss he had exchanged with the half-blood. Even back then she had reacted so hatefully about it before hand before she had complied with it, and even then he had had to struggle more than he was used to to get her compliance… And now Rowan had apparently done something similar, though from the sound of it he hadn't quite gotten the experience Sage had. His imagination seemed to be overacting, though, because the longer he sat there contemplating his brother's actions, the more he was seeing the girl, Catherine, with her arms locked around Rowan's neck as she kissed him in wild abandon… He was quite sure that was not at all how the event had gone, though, given the rather sulky look on his younger brother's face as Rowan touched a finger to his lips thoughtfully.

"You look sullen," Sage murmured, and Rowan let a small smirk curl his lip.

"I didn't get nearly the time or passion I wanted out of that kiss," the younger Prince sighed, pretending to look forlorn as he tapped his lower lip, "And she struggled so hard to avoid it and in the end I only got a split second before that Summer knave showed up…"

"You really act as though kissing that half-blood is something you look forward to," Sage observed and Rowan gave a small chortle.

"As I said before, brother, it is all about making her kneel," he replied, "And what better way than to make her bend to my every whim? She is such a prude, really something she shares in common with you. You would think she'd spent her life living in a convent."

"Not all women enjoy being set upon by men like you, Rowan, shocking as that may seem to you," Sage told him, a small, humorless smile touching his face. "Particularly her…"

"Particularly, you say?" Rowan now looked interested as he glanced over at Sage. "And what makes you say that?"

"Weren't you the one who said she and I share a similar trait?" inquired Sage, arching a slender eyebrow. "Have you forgotten it already? She and I have the common trait of not very much enjoying physical interaction, unusual as it might seem to someone of your character."

"Fair enough," said Rowan with a lazy smirk, "Though, brother, I might advise you not to get too interested in the affairs of that little kitten. You might have housed her before without my notice, but I won't be so nice about it if you get in my way."

"I thought that was why you were blackmailing me," Sage said calmly. "Or are you telling me that was just a dramatic show of your power?"

"We can say both," Rowan chuckled. "Just do not forget, Sage, how this game works. Not that I think you really honestly care what happens now since you've been found out."

"You make it sound as though it is a huge triumph on your part," sighed the elder Winter Prince, pushing himself up from the couch and glancing wearily at his brother. "If you had only asked the right questions from the beginning, this would not even be an issue."

"The fact is that you danced, brother," Rowan said with a dark smile. "You danced around the truth, and you danced with the Lady… The only question that remains is why?"

"You're clever," Sage told him, and tossed the pawn through the air to Rowan, who caught it easily, "I am sure you will be the one to figure it out again, and if not then perhaps the answer you are looking for is much easier than you are making it out to be."

"Or you could simply tell me why," Rowan said idly, twirling the pawn between his fingers, "Unless you are trying to hide something from me."

"I have nothing to hide," Sage murmured, even as he turned away from Rowan and began to move towards the door of the study.

Bane rose to follow him.

"Then tell me, brother dear," Rowan purred from the couch, his ice blue eyes narrowing to slits as he watched his brother retreat, "Just why did you shelter the poor little half-blood?"

"Because her guardian made a deal with me," said Sage calmly, pulling open the doors of the study, only pausing to glance back at Rowan's smirking face.

"And is that really the truth?" Rowan asked lightly, "Are you sure you're not just picking out a truth that suits the moment?"

"Why would I waste my time doing something so ludicrous?" Sage asked, turning away and stepping from the room. "Only you and mother bother yourselves with picking truths that suit your purposes."

"True enough," chuckled Rowan, "But are you sure you won't at least stay and play a round of chess with your little brother? For old time's sake?"

"I hate chess," said Sage, striding from the room, leaving Rowan to lounge on his couch, smirking after his brother, still idly twirling the pawn between his long fingers, a fiendish glint in his blue eyes.

"This game just gets more and more interesting by the minute," he murmured, idly placing the piece back in its proper square on the board and eyeing the stationary armies before him.

After eyeing the lines of soldiers for a long moment, he smirked and moved one piece forward.


	31. Chapter 31

Down the hall, still making his way swiftly from the study, Sage didn't even pause to speak with the two female sidhes, who were still waiting just beyond the doors at the corner of the hallway, though they called out to him eagerly as he swept past. Bane trotted along behind him, not speaking, though he kept a wary golden eye on his master as they moved silently through the castle, slipping past groups of fey that littered the halls, gossiping, fighting or, in one phoukas case, making a general nuisance of himself among a group of redcaps as they lingered outside the door of the groomsman that had been beaten, scratching at the locked handle and growling in frustration at being unable to reach their intended target.

They continued walking for a while, and though Bane had originally thought that perhaps Sage would return to his room as was his usual choice of activity after an encounter with Rowan, he was surprised when the Prince turned sharply down a hall leading away from his room, angling towards—of all places—the dungeons.

"My Prince," Bane murmured after a long moment of silence, breaking into a slight gallop just to keep pace with Sage, "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere quiet," Sage answered quietly without slowing his pace.

"You will not return to your room instead?" Bane inquired, cocking his head at his master as the Prince continued to lead a rapid pace down the halls, weaving around the faeries that popped up along the way.

"Anyone can bother me in my room," Sage replied with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Bane didn't say anything more on the matter, understanding his Prince's motivations, and merely followed along in silence, a large gray shadow, until Sage had finally reached the door at the end of one of the innumerable corridors in the castle which led down into the dungeons. Bane had only been into the dungeons once, during a situation where Sage had been required to interrogate their prisoner, and though the familiar had not particularly hated the venture down into the bowels of the castle, he hadn't altogether liked it either. It was dark, darker than he was generally used to, and the smells that assaulted him there were of questionable decency. Blood he was used to, but the overpowering stench of decay and other foul odors had been almost noxious, and being gifted with the nose he was made the experience less than enjoyable.

For that reason, Bane hesitated at the doors as Sage pulled it open, allowing the familiarly nauseating stench of a thousand years of prisoners left to die in torment to wash over them with the force of a tidal wave, and Bane felt his eyes stream. Sage did not particularly mind the smell, though it was just as overpowering to him as his familiar, but he had to had to endure worse conditions than these even before Bane became his familiar and constant companion, so he could bear it.

"If you do not wish to accompany me, I will not ask you to," Sage informed the wolf, turning briefly to him as he took the first step down the icy stairwell.

"I will stand guard if you permit me, my Prince," Bane murmured, bowing his head, and Sage nodded.

"I may be down a while," the Winter Prince informed his familiar, and Bane blinked his understanding.

Sage turned and moved further down the stairs, leaving Bane to push the door closed behind him with a resounding creaking and banging that sent some of the icicles dangling overhead trembling, but Sage paid it no mind as he continued down the spiraled staircase, glad for once that Mab did not make a habit of keeping live prisoners for very long. There would be no one to disturb him here, and even if someone went looking for him in the castle above, they would not locate him very easily. He might have been tempted to go to his Lodge if he wanted the quiet, but he did not really think his current preoccupations and thoughts merited such drastic isolation for the time being. Not to mention Mab would not take kindly to his immediate disappearance so soon after he had returned to attend Elysium. For now, he would make do with the solitude of Tir Na Nog's dungeons and hope no one missed him very soon.

As he descended the staircase, his eyes slowly adjusting the increasing darkness that always seemed to permeate the dungeons like a black cloud he could make out the outline of a skeleton sitting up against the far corner of a wall as he finally came to the end of the stairs to where the holding cells were. They were all empty, though by the looks of one it had been recently used. Recent being in the past month, as generally any other prisoners were not generally kept in the peace times between Summer and Winter. Pausing outside of the particular cell, Sage cast a vaguely interested look into the still half full, yet frozen solid, bowl of water sitting in the far corner, and the chunk of stale bread that lay next to it, untouched. He stepped closer to the cell, noticing an odd pattern on the far wall, which was a solid block of black ice, and, narrowing his eyes, he saw he could just make out the tiniest little scratch marks against the wall where the manacles would have been, except the binds now sat on the floor, bolts and all, clearly having been dislodged from the wall some time before.

His curiosity getting the better of him, he reached out to pull open the barred door of the cell, which screeched loudly from centuries of misuse, ill repairs and a starvation of oil, and stepped slowly into the cell, his narrowed emerald eyes still fixed on the claw marks in the wall, only dropping once to the manacles on the ground to see they also bore similar marks of abuse.

As he leaned forward in the small confines of the cell, further scrutinizing the marks, he had a vague flash of memory. A black cat with yellow-green eyes, sheathing and unsheathing its claws in the snow and ice as it stood anxiously beside the fallen figure of a girl, looking up at him with an almost anguished expression. The tiny little scores in the snow at the feline's paws matched the ones on the wall, and Sage found himself smiling in spite of himself. This had been the cell Mab had held Catherine in, and the marks on the wall were from no one other than the Cait Sith who had been guiding her, Demon. Well, at least that answered how she had gotten out of the shackles in the first place… Everyone had assumed she'd evaporated herself, so he guessed now that no one had really taken the time to check the cell other than the fey that had raised the alarm and merely glimpsed inside the cell to see she was no longer there. It would also explain why no one had yet fixed the manacles, since he guessed no one had been down here since then, what with the lack of prisoners rendering any potential guards unnecessary.

However, it seemed no one had really stopped to consider she hadn't done it by herself. That figured, though, since no one before now would have believed that a Cait Sith would stoop to helping a simple half-blood for anything less than a life debt, though Sage knew better than that now. And so did Rowan. Catherine had more help than anyone might have imagined, not just from her half-human friends but from the fey as well. Robin Goodfellow, the Cait Sith Demon, and the Summer noble Sonata…even Ash, Meghan Chase and a couple of their knights had all banded together and—though perhaps not entirely for Catherine's sake—had offered their help and assistance to both her and her friends. Rowan had not been understating it when he had said that the girl was protected from all sides like a precious gem of sorts, but Sage wondered why his younger sibling didn't particularly seem to take note of how the other two girls, Trinity and Nicolette, were just as well protected. Trinity was the daughter of the Great Summer General Astrid, Oberon's most trusted advisor, or he had been until the recent conflict with Winter, when Rowan had managed to overwhelm the General with the aid of his Thornguards and end his life. To threaten the daughter of such a revered fey was attempting suicide in Sage's mind, so why Rowan was even contemplating the idea of using her as a tool to get what he was really after was beyond him. He might have done better just to pursue the other girl, the half-dryad Nicolette.

But therein again was a slight problem… Though Sage hadn't paid much mind to the girl during the time at Elysium when he had glimpsed her, he hadn't needed to use his powers of observation to note that Robin Goodfellow was exceptionally attached to her. More so than a normal fey should be to any one person, particularly a girl. But, then again, it seemed Goodfellow had fallen into the habit of chasing after half-bloods, as he had before with the Iron Queen before she had become the Monarch of her Kingdom. It had been a legendary scandal, hearing that Oberon's right hand lackey had been pursuing the Erkling's daughter and her affections, only to be pushed aside in place of the exiled Winter Prince, Ash. Since then, Sage had heard the rumors flying around that Goodfellow had made it his business not to appear anywhere in the Nevernever unless he was required—much as Sage did for similar times—but where it was commonplace for Sage, it had been unheard of for Puck. Robin Goodfellow was a free spirit, wild and untamed like the wind, and he always showed up where he wasn't wanted, or even in places where he was, just for old time's sake, but after Meghan had assumed the mantle of Iron Queen and been wedded to Ash, the Summer fey had all but ceased to exist, and if anyone managed to see him at all, it was on the rare occasions such as Elysium and very rarely at the Exchange. Otherwise he was rumored to be spending his time in the Mortal Realm, pining away, and slowly dwindling to nothing.

Well, those had been the rumors in any case…But Sage had never believed a faery as old and powerful as Robin Goodfellow could ever truly disappear, even if everyone else in the world forgot him. And that was why it was just as suicidal to consider threatening the girl he had now set his heart on, no matter if she was a simple half-human with no outstanding pedigree to her name. Puck was as dangerous as he was wild when his anger was roused, and revenge was something he did not fall short on if the call came for it. So, if he stopped to consider it, Sage might better understand just why Rowan was less inclined to use the girl, Nicolette, in his little game against Catherine. He might be willing to incur Oberon's wrath if he thought he could use Mab and his other assets to escape the brunt of it, but Robin Goodfellow didn't follow such rules of decorum if he needed to make someone pay. In the Summer Prankster's eyes, everyone was equal when it came to revenge. He couldn't care less if you were a prince or a commoner. If you gave him a reason to get back at you, he would do it equally for everyone, or more so for the people he truly loathed, and Rowan was just one such person.

Still, Sage couldn't completely understand why Rowan was tempting fate by trying to worm his way through Catherine's protectors to get at her. This new found obsession with the half-blood Cait Sith was something remarkable, second only to Rowan's previous interest in the Iron Queen, at least before she had become such. At least in that particular instance, Rowan had been only seeking to use the Queen to get back at Ash, as he never was satisfied with the punishments he managed to deal his younger brother, not since Ariella Tullaryn's death. Rowan had never gotten over Ariella's death, grieving even more than Ash ever had, though he had never been the object of the Lady's affections. And that was what had truly scorned Rowan that Ash had managed to win Ariella's heart where he had not. If Sage hadn't known better, he would have said that Rowan might have even loved Ariella, but the truth was that Rowan loved no one and never had. He had only been jealous of Ash for being able to woo the girl where he had been left out in the cold, so to speak. He had also attempted to seduce the Lady into being interested in him, but she had spurned his advances in preference of his younger brother, and since then Rowan had turned even more bitter and cruel than he ever had been, becoming so much like Mab that it was hardly a wonder to anyone why the Ice Queen favored him out of all of her sons.

But to think that Rowan had obsessed over Ariella, and then attempted to use Meghan Chase to make Ash pay for the crimes Rowan imagined him to be guilty of was something entirely different than to sit now and wonder why he was so keen on the half-blood Cait Sith. She had no ties back to Ash, though she was certainly a mutual acquaintance of the Prince and the Iron Queen, but aside from that her ties held mostly in the Summer Court, where Meghan Chase was not even truly considered part of the nobility anymore. If Sage had to guess, he would only be able to imagine that Rowan's interest in Catherine was due to the fact that she spurned him like Ariella had, and in Rowan's mind that would be incentive enough.

The younger Prince might have said he craved the control of whatever power he believed the girl might hold within her, but Sage doubted that was truly his motivation, even if Rowan had tricked himself into believing it was. A Cait Sith might be old, older than any of the fey, and powerful, but no Cait Sith—aside from Lord Morningstar's Wrath—had ever even come close to being on par with the great rulers of Faery. Only Morningstar's Wrath could ever hope to outdo either Mab or Oberon should he ever feel the interest to do so, but no other Cait Sith could hope for such an advantage. Whatever power Rowan believed Catherine might have, it wasn't sure to be much. Which was why Sage was beginning to conclude now that, even if Rowan didn't realize it consciously, he was really only keen on the girl because she reminded him of a certain other woman he had lost so long ago.

Typical, really, Sage thought with a small sigh, finally stepping out of the cell and taking up residence instead against a far wall, sliding down it to sit with legs outstretched, gazing distantly up at the icy black ceiling above him. Rowan lived for revenge, since he couldn't seem to live for anything else. Where Sage had always made his life about carrying out his duties as he was told and generally making himself as invisible as possible in the court and Ash had done similarly, Rowan only found pleasure in tormenting others. It was his nature, as it was Mab's. He reveled in his power over the others in his court, and sometimes even in the Summer court, though the Prince was at least bright enough to understand he couldn't hold power over anyone in the Iron court, unless he had a death wish of some kind, and though Rowan's life may not have much merit in it, the Prince valued it more than anything else. In a word, Rowan was self-absorbed, dismally and hopelessly obsessed with himself, and his needs, and his wants and his desires.

If he didn't get what he wanted, he made the ones who had denied it to him suffer, just as he was planning to do to Sage if the elder Prince "stepped out of line". Of course, Sage had no real intention of bringing up the issue with Mab. Not only because it wasn't altogether his concern—outside of the potential war Rowan could start if he slipped up—but also because Mab wouldn't really hear him out if he attempted to speak with her. Her son he may be and the eldest, the heir to the throne should she ever decide to step down, but that really did not make a difference in how well she listened to him when he had something to say. He often liked to believe that even if ever assumed the throne as the King of Winter that she would not listen to him even then. Of course, she would have to follow whatever orders he gave, but other than that she would cast him aside as easily as she did now. So Sage would not bother himself to address the issue with her. It would come up eventually, since it seemed that Rowan had absolutely no intentions of letting it go.

Sage heaved another sigh, letting his emerald eyes close as he thought more about what had come to pass between him and his brother just now, trying to imagine the ultimate kind of havoc Rowan could invoke if he went too far. Of course, even if Rowan managed to utterly disgrace the General's daughter, there was the possibility that Oberon would merely call for the Prince's blood and be done with it, and if Rowan was guilty of assaulting the girl in such a way Mab would have no alternative unless she really did want a war. Rowan might be her favorite son, but he was still disposable. So, if a war was not the worst that could happen, what would it be? Sage could imagine that Trinity's friends would all band together to bring hell down on Rowan for whatever he'd done, regardless of whether or not they were given permission to do so by Oberon. And if Robin Goodfellow was a member of that party there was really no telling how unfortunate Rowan would end up if that Summer fey came to take his revenge. Well, that could be potentially problematic…

If the little band came to try and make Rowan pay for his misdeeds, against Oberon's orders, or even following them, Mab would be sure to retaliate, and a war could easily break out. So, there again was the war issue…

Sage sighed, lifting a hand tiredly to rub at his throbbing temple, wondering if perhaps he would be better off leaving the problems as they were to unfold on their own and just remaining a silent observer as he had for so long. Rowan had always caused trouble, sometimes on a scale of war, which had ultimately been the reason the Summer General Astrid had died in the first place, but it hadn't brought the entire Nevernever to its knees. Thinking that a single girl, or even two half-human girls, would be the cause of such chaos and destruction was almost laughable. However, Sage never took a situation for granted, especially not when he had not seen Rowan act like this since the time that Lady Ariella had caught his eye. Only that time outweighed Rowan's sadism and determination compared to now, but even the intensity he was putting forth into trying to corner the half-blood Cait Sith was a little unnerving.

But there was another question he really wanted the answer to. Why did it particularly matter to him whether or not Rowan got what he was after or not? Sage had been in wars before, wars that were sure to be much worse than anything Rowan could cause with this childish whim of his, so what made this particular thing so bothersome? Though he may not have a million other things on his mind to keep him preoccupied, he had never stopped to consider the repercussions of Rowan's actions against someone else, in any of the three courts, because it had never affected him. Rowan's actions were Rowan's, and he, Sage, was just a bystander. Where mortals might point fingers at those who had witnessed a crime and demand to know why that particular being hadn't come forward to report it or address it before hand, fey had no such qualms. The only person responsible for a crime was the one who had committed it, so what made this so different to him?

He might have entertained the idea that because General Astrid's daughter was being dragged into the conflict, even if only as a means to an end, he was bothered by Rowan's carelessness on just who he decided to bring into his little squabble, but Sage had only glimpsed the girl at Elysium, and didn't particularly note anything outstanding in her character. She did not even really act like her father, aside from her poise and reservation, though that could easily be brought in by attending court as she was sure to have been doing during her stay in Arcadia. Elegance could be easily taught, and though she seemed to have a knack for it, Sage didn't consider anything else about her as really worthy of his notice. She was fairly pretty, of course, at least she had inherited that from her father's blood, as well as her wit, it seemed. Still, he doubted she was the source of his discomfort.

Even contemplating the role Robin Goodfellow could play in this series of events wasn't truly disturbing to him. Even if the fey came and brought all manner of hell down on Rowan for whatever the Prince ended up doing, he wouldn't hold Sage responsible or make his life any more difficult either. The half-dryad Nicolette wasn't particularly worrisome either, though Sage had at least made sure to note she and Goodfellow shared similar tendencies towards mischief, and a dislike of him personally, as he remembered immediately after his dance with Catherine they had both been making quite sure to give him a rather disdainful look. But they were also not really what he believed to be bothering him.

His only other alternative selection was either the Cait Sith Demon or Catherine. It would be stupid of him to believe, however, that Demon was really a key point in the matter. They barely acknowledged each other and he had not even seen the Cait Sith during Elysium, though he had suspected that was due mostly in part to the cat's natural aversion of public affairs. And Cait Sith did not hold many grudges to begin with. They merely went about their business as usual and if someone decided to get on the wrong end of them they did not even really bother themselves with something as petty as revenge. Cats as a rule did not waste their time doing such things as the other fey did, and though Demon was most certainly one of the oddest Cait Sith he had ever encountered he was certain that feline held that particular ideal in similar respects to his kin. So, if not him…then that only left Catherine…

If he had been human, he might have vehemently refused to believe that something, or someone, as inconsequential to him as Catherine was really the cause behind his unease with Rowan's plans. But, as Rowan himself had said, sometimes it was the smallest piece on the board that made the biggest difference, though why Catherine would make such a difference was entirely questionable. He knew himself well enough to know he wasn't concerned for her wellbeing. Despite the events of the previous night, and the embarrassment and pain she had been forced to endure, that was none of his concern at all. Looking back on his thoughts of her, he could only guess of himself that it was that he was still very thoroughly irritated that she was being so unnecessarily difficult about giving him what he wanted.

In those respects, he knew he was relating himself to Rowan, but at least where Rowan wanted the girl's obedience and possibly other things she could offer him, Sage merely wanted answers. It was all he had ever wanted, and she was refusing to give them to him. He had been so annoyed the night before, struggling to get her to answer, though he imagined things would have gone much more smoothly if it had not been for the interruption caused by the Summer knight, Sonata. There again, he realized with a small flicker of resignation that he and Rowan shared a similar pain. If not for the knave getting in the way during the dance, Sage was quite sure he would had more than enough time to get the necessary answers from Catherine, despite her vehement refusal at the time to comply.

Of course, someone might like to question why he wanted the answers in the first place, and the truth was that he didn't really need a reason. He was not used to being denied answers, so why start being denied now by a petulant half-blood who couldn't seem to figure out her place in the world? That aside, he was intrigued that she still seemed so completely under the delusion that she was in love with him. Even without having her say it directly, the answer had been very clearly stated in her actions when she had been close to him. He could tell just how aware of him she had been, just by the rigidity of her body all throughout the dance, and the way she had deliberately refused to look into his eyes. And the times that she had, he could almost see the memories rushing through her mind, replaying what she apparently could not forget. He didn't know if she had been aware, but there had been a point where, in the middle of trying to look away from his eyes, she had ended up staring at his mouth, and it had been almost pitiable just to see the way the pain in her jade gaze flared.

She couldn't forget his kiss, and she couldn't forget him, and that in itself was truly pathetic. Sage was not egotistical, as Rowan was, but he knew full and well that he was not easily forgotten by any woman, especially one such as Catherine that had already been afflicted with her silly imaginings of being in love with him, and, of course, being so close to him. But he would have thought at least that she would have realized by now, after discovering that he had no real affections for her, that she would have gotten over herself, and him, and moved on. She had more than enough incentive to do so. The Summer noble, Sonata, was more than available to her, and Sage had to wonder if she was so naïve that she couldn't even realize Oberon's knave had practically been throwing himself at her feet when he had rescued her, not only from Sage, but from Rowan as well.

Whatever their history, as Sage was convinced they had one, he would have thought in the time that she had been in Arcadia, being in the company of the noble, that she would have to come to realize there were much greener pastures to be turning to, and not waste her time on him. Humans as a rule were flighty, unreliable creatures, throwing their affections around as easily as they threw around their promises, and it was really astounding in some ways just how much more fickle humans could be than the fey, who also made a habit of not tying themselves down to a single being. The humans that did manage to find their "one and only" sometimes did not even last all that long together. So why couldn't Catherine seem to move on? It was also even more intriguing that she couldn't based on the other half of her heritage. Cait Sith couldn't love, it was a rule of nature. They did not entertain such fanciful notions as loving another creature, just as their mortal counterparts were prone to aloofness and self-interest. The Cait Sith race were not even flighty, as other fey, since that constituted the occasional interest in another being, but they had no such interest. They bred for the purpose of continuing their race, and when they were not doing that they did not care to recognize anyone else except perhaps in light of a favor owed to them or for the achievement of other self-interested purposes.

So, what made Catherine so different? Why could she not shake off the illusion she had thrown over herself of being in love with him? Even if it was the truth in her mind, it should have been so obvious by now that he did not return her feelings, and even if she could not escape from her imagined feelings for him, why could she not do herself and the rest of them a favor and get along with her life like any normal being would? Everything in her genetics said she shouldn't be hung up on him, so why was she? More than that, why was she being so difficult?

All he wanted were answers, and she refused to give them. She wasn't getting any benefit out of denying him those answers except further humiliation on her part. He might have thought perhaps she was using it as a ploy to be close to him, but given her actions at Elysium last night, when she had been all too eager to push him away following what she had thought was the end of their encounter he was led to believe otherwise. She didn't want to be near him the same way she didn't want to be near his brother, though he fancied perhaps she was less inclined to entertain his brother's company than his, but the fact still remained that she was being ludicrously complicated, not to mention postponing the inevitable.

He always got his answers, one way or another, and though he may not have quite the same advantages as before, what with being unable to slip her another dose of spill-your-guts, or having her owe him any favors, he would be sure to get those answers eventually. Though, he had to at least give some consideration to the fact that seeing her again was highly unlikely. He had gotten lucky at Elysium, and though the Exchange was soon in coming, and Elysium shortly after that again, there was the slight problem that she was forbidden from setting foot in Winter, and both events would be held in Tir Na Nog. Even if she did show up, that would be breaking her oath to him to remain out of his lands, though he wondered if perhaps he might not be able to twist that to his advantage and make a deal with her that he wouldn't call for her blood for breaking the oath if she told him what he wanted to know.

A humorless smile curved his mouth, and he gave a snort of derision, rather embarrassed by his own thoughts. The more he sat here and contemplated it, the more he felt he was thinking like Rowan. Of course, the difference between himself and his brother at this point was that he was not so insecure in his own abilities as to need to drag other people into the fray. This was a matter only between himself and the half-blood, and he needed no other leverage to assist him. Really, what was he even doing, sitting here like this, wondering over just how to get his answers from the girl? It was foolish enough that letting a simple thing like that make him uncomfortable about Rowan's plans. Was he really concerned that if Rowan had his way that the girl would be even less inclined to answer him?

No, he realized, a frown taking the place of his smile, and he opened his eyes to stare at the wall ahead of him, gazing into the cell that sat opposite him, the miniscule scratches on the wall almost invisible from this distance. No, that wasn't it… If he had to be truly honest with himself, he was as close to nervous as one could be without actually being so. In all of his centuries alive, he had only ever had this similar feeling once before, when he was very young, but that had been altogether different. This time, his unease was due more to the idea of what might happen if Rowan _did _get a hold of Catherine, and had her answer the questions he was interested in. It was already irritating enough that Rowan had suspected Sage had sheltered Catherine, and now confirmed those suspicions, but after Catherine had made efforts to protect Sage from Rowan finding out, the younger Prince was even more interested in just the kind of relationship the two may or may not have together.

Rowan thought Catherine might be in love with Sage, which was very much true, though Sage would like to avoid his brother discovering something like that, more to spare himself the constant annoyance of having to hear Rowan gloat about it than anything else. He had received confessions of love from addle minded girls before, and every so often one particular confession struck Rowan as rather humorous and, if given his way, he would poke and prod at Sage for endless months. The longest instance of this had gone on for nearly two years before Rowan had finally given up on it when the girl had run off and gotten married to her chosen suitor instead. But, still, it had been a long, aggravating two years, and Sage had been fortunate enough to have his Lodge as his escape when Rowan's taunting became almost unbearable.

Not to mention that aside from the taunting, Rowan made a general habit of pushing Sage to bed whatever female was foolish enough to confess her undying love for him. It seemed to be a hobby of Rowan's to try and get Sage to get over his aversion to sexual contact with woman, and, to be honest, Sage was still rather repulsed by the idea that Rowan had even thought to suggest he was not as straight and narrow as he had been leading everyone to believe. Of course, Sage knew it was just another ploy of Rowan's to get under his skin, but it had nonetheless been offensive. He might not find the idea of laying with a woman all together provocative, but he could not even contemplate the alternative of being with a man. It was more than repugnant… Only humans indulged in such odd fantasies, and he was no human.

But, there again was the problem that if Rowan succeeded in his venture of getting Catherine to surrender herself to him, he would more than likely take advantage of everything she could tell him, and use it against Sage. And Sage would not be at all surprised if that ended up with Rowan forcing Catherine to come after Sage, throwing herself at him just like every other female in the court. That would be just like Rowan, too, to humiliate Catherine and further annoy Sage.

And being who he was, Sage would rather avoid a situation like that if at all possible. It was one thing to see Catherine humiliate herself by doing something as belittling as cry in front of him, not even once but twice, and to have to rely on someone else to come riding in to save her, but it would be something else entirely if she were to come crawling to him at Rowan's command and fawn over him like every other woman he had ever had to suffer the embarrassment of encountering. He may not know her entirely, but he knew her well enough. She did not yield easily, and if she was forced to do so by Rowan's bidding, and degrade herself to so immensely, it could be considered the ultimate shame as far as her pride went. She would be broken by that point, which was exactly what Rowan would want. A broken toy, turned into an obedient little pet.

Just thinking about such things was already making him sick, really, and he moved to consider other things, now that he had felt he had gotten some semblance of understanding for his own reasoning.

Contemplating what else he might think over while he had the time to be alone, without interruptions, for once he went back into the castle, he was sure to be harassed endlessly as he always was when he didn't manage to escape from court, his found his emerald eyes resting on this tiny little claw marks in the cell yet again, and began to think over them. In his mind's eye, he could already see the shape of the black Cait Sith, possibly propped up on Catherine's shoulders to reach, clawing frantically at the manacles, attempting to free her, and Catherine would sit there in silence, waiting until the moment when the bolts finally broke free of the wall, and then struggle frantically to get her hands out of the manacles while Demon perhaps made an attempt to get the cell unlocked. The guard might have been asleep, or temporarily absent for his lunch break, and they could have made their escape. Even without opening the cell door, Demon might have continued to perch on her shoulders and evaporate them both away, out of the castle itself, so when the guard came back it would be to find the locked cell empty of a prisoner, and gone racing off to race the alarm.

Sage found himself smiling slightly at the thought, wondering just what kind of temper Mab had been in when she'd discovered her prisoner had gone missing. Sage himself had not been around for that particular event, but he was sure both his mother and Rowan both had been in such an ill temper that it had probably been suicidal for anyone to get in their way. Knowing Rowan, he would have sent out his Thornguards immediately to search the interior of the castle and the grounds outside, foolish enough to think that she might have escaped on her own and gone running through the palace in her wild attempt to get away. But given what Sage knew, Demon had more than likely evaporated the pair of them right to the trod they had first come in from, and hurried them back into the Mortal Realm. However long they had waited there, it had been nearly a week in the Nevernever before the ruckus had finally settled, though Rowan still made daily searches around their borders, looking for her, much to Sage's amusement.

He still did not quite understand why Demon had not led the girl back through a different trod, since the Cait Sith would have been sure to know that, even if there was the slightest chance that Mab had ordered them to cease looking for the girl, that there was still danger in Tir Na Nog if they were found again. Not only that, but there were innumerable trods leading into Tir Na Nog, but Demon had led her back through the exact same one as the first time, and they had been exceedingly lucky that Rowan had not been clever enough to place Thornguards there to keep watch, otherwise they would have had much more to worry about than being discovered by Sage during their time of need. The only conclusion that Sage could come to at this point was that Demon had already known about the girl's ties to Winter through her father, and was hoping to start the search for him there, where it was more likely they might come across him, but given the way things had turned out now, it was almost laughable that Demon had been making such efforts to ease their search when now Catherine had been entirely banned from Winter by her oath to Sage. They had no hope of coming into his territory now, unless they truly thought they could do it without being detected by him or anyone else, which was highly unlikely.

He sighed quietly to himself, letting his eyes fall shut again, leaning his head against the frigid all behind him, and losing himself in idle thought, just glad for the silence that allowed him to contemplate everything on his mind. He normally did not have so much to think about, even during the times when he was busy, but he also did not normally have such in depth conversations with Rowan to keep his mind so active. But Rowan had certainly given him a lot to think about. His plans for Trinity and how he intended to use her to get to Catherine…how he had taken such pleasure in abusing Catherine the night before, even though the most he had managed to get out of her was a kiss…

Sage frowned slightly, not really aware he was doing so, and his emerald eyes cracked open slightly to peer at the cell ahead of him, his mind momentarily filling with the image of the half-blood as she stared up at him from his bed, her jade eyes wide, tearful, swirling with such pain and anger, but foremost anguish. The image shifted to where her eyes were closed now, and her body was rigid as he gazed down at her, totally exasperated from her lack of compliance. It had just been a kiss, he thought idly, his frown deepening as he replayed the scene in his head from two weeks ago. Nothing more, but she had detested that he'd used it against her, taken it from her, though he knew it could not have been her first. She had been naïve, but not new to the concept. As her lips had moved against his, she had been slightly sure of what she was doing, but it was her reluctance to do so that had made it frustrating to him as he had to guide her, coaxing her into answering him when any other woman would have been euphoric at the very idea of having the chance to kiss him.

But she had not taken it that way, not even when he had managed to convince her to treat the situation as though there was really nothing between them but her own restrictions. Even when she had let herself go and had been kissing him so much more passionately than before, he could still feel her withdrawal, practically tasted it on her lips. Even when she had allowed him to pull her closer, trying to get more of a reaction out of her as he'd drawn her body up against his, she had remained rigid, though perhaps she hadn't been entirely aware of it. Even with her naivety, and her rather disappointing performance, he had been mildly surprised to still remember what her lips felt like after she had gone. Well, he hadn't even really noticed that he remembered it at all until he had seen her last night. He wasn't even sure what had triggered the memory, perhaps just talking about the fact she couldn't forget it as they danced had been enough to bring it swimming to the forefront of his memory.

Whatever the reason, as they'd spoken, he had found himself vaguely reminiscing over the petal soft feel of her lips against his, and the subtle taste of mint on her breath as she'd kissed him. Whatever the reason, the sensation had been in his mind for the entire duration of their dance, though he had not paid it much mind, too busy considering other things as he had worked to get her to answer him without much success. Though now that he stopped to consider it, he wondered just what Rowan had experienced during his encounter with the girl. Given the way his brother seemed to be sulking about it, he wagered it had not been a particularly long encounter at all. When Rowan gave his attention to something like a woman, he generally preferred to make the moment last, for himself if nothing else, but it seemed he'd been slighted on that matter last night. Probably another reason he was so desperate to get back at Catherine…

Still, Sage couldn't help but contemplate if Rowan had had that similar experience of satin smooth lips. Had he perhaps tasted the mint on her breath as she'd gasped, for he was certain she had given the shock that was sure to have come with his brother getting so close to her? Or had he experienced something altogether different? He was curious now…but he would sooner allow himself to become mute than even consider going and asking Rowan about the encounter, for his brother was sure to become interested in his motivations for asking, and Rowan didn't exactly know that Sage had taken a kiss from Catherine as well, and he'd rather it stayed that way. Ignorance was bliss.

The loud creaking of the dungeon door had him looking around in mild interest, though he felt himself sigh as the shadowy figure of his mother appeared at the top of the stairs with Bane standing just to the side.

"Sage, darling," Mab crooned as she descended the stairs, her black eyes the only really visible thing about her from the angle Sage viewed her at, "There you are. I was looking for you."

He really didn't care to know why, but, as was her nature, Mab seemed to think it necessary to elaborate, another of her annoying habits, along with asking questions she happened to know the answers to.

"I just spoke with Rowan," she said, pausing halfway down the stairs to smile at him, her hands folded neatly in front of her, her eyes cold, "Did you get to speak with him already?"

"Yes, my Lady," he murmured, inclining his head.

Mab's smile widened, though it still did not quite reach her bottomless eyes.

"I am so glad," she purred, "Though, he did not quite seem as cheered up as I would have hoped after getting to speak with you. Did you two get into another argument?"

Had it been an argument, he wondered vaguely. Not particularly, they had simply agreed to disagree, if one could even call it that.

"No, my Lady," he responded coolly, "We merely spoke for a short while."

"And why are you down here of all places?" she asked, tilting her head at him, much like a cat examining potential prey might do. "I would have thought you would return to your room."

No use telling her he had purposely come here to avoid her should she come looking for him, just as she had, apparently. Though why she hadn't sent a servant to fetch him was a little bewildering.

"I just needed a quieter place to think, my Queen," he answered her with a small smile. "I am too easily bothered in my room."

"Ah, of course," she said, narrowing her dark eyes, "Well, that is understandable. What were you thinking about?"

Why did he have the lurking suspicion that Rowan had gone and said something to tip Mab off that Sage was probably not in a state of mind she would appreciate? He doubted his brother had gone the extra mile to go ahead and tell Mab that he was behind not being able to locate Catherine during her second appearance in Tir Na Nog, but it wouldn't be past Rowan to at least suggest something to get Mab's defenses up about her eldest son. It was Rowan's specialty, after all, turning their mother against his elder brother. It was how he stayed the favorite… Well, if Rowan wanted to play childish games, so be it. Sage could play them just as well.

"Just about something Rowan happened to say earlier, my Lady," he answered Mab in a carefully vague manner, "We were discussing the half-blood earlier…he still seems rather keen on her despite my Lady's warnings to steer clear of her if he should ever meet with her again."

Just as he had been rather hoping for, Mab's black eyes grew, if possible, even darker than before, and her smile suddenly tightened, and he thought she rather looked more like she was grimacing or snarling than smiling as she faced him.

"Oh, is he?" she asked lightly, and he witnessed her fingers tightening together.

"It at least seemed so, my Lady," he said, shrugging lamely.

"And did you speak with him on this?" Mab asked in a rather low voice, black flames beginning to glow in her eyes. "You warned him what the consequences might be?"

"I attempted to, my Lady," he murmured, "But my younger brother does not much care to hear lectures from me when he knows I am merely another of your sons."

"I see," said Mab, and her voice fairly purred with menace, "Then perhaps I should speak with him again, just to be sure he received the message if you did not manage to convey it properly."

"If you so wish it, my Lady," he responded, bowing his head.

Mab's dark smile was still frozen on her face as she turned away from him and began back up the stairs, her high heeled shoes clicking against the icy steps until she reached the top, where she paused to turn back to him.

"I expect you will be ready for dinner in a few hours," she called own to him, "And do not be late, dear."

"Yes, my Queen," he answered obediently, and with a final, cold smile she turned and swept away out of sight, leaving him alone again.

At the top of the steps, Bane lingered like a hulking shadow, his amber eyes glowing down at his Prince. He did not speak immediately, or descend the stairs himself to join Sage, but rather continued to mull about in the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder at one point to ensure Mab had gone, then heaved a sigh and moved slowly down the steps to where Sage was beginning to push himself to his feet.

"Are you alright, my Prince?" Bane murmured as he approached, his paws making no sound on the icy floor.

"I am fine," Sage replied with a small sigh, dusting a few ice crystals from the back of his coat as he straightened, though his expression was weary. "I was hoping for a bit more time than what was given to me, but I never expected she would come looking for me herself…"

"When she approached me, she acted as though she were seeking you out as a criminal rather than a son," Bane informed him as Sage made his way over to the stairs and began to climb them. "I believe perhaps Prince Rowan gave her some idea that you have been keeping something from her."

"I have no doubt that is exactly what he did," agreed Sage with a weary smile. "Did she say anything in particular about what he might have told her regarding me?"

"No, my Prince," rumbled Bane, bowing his head as he ascended the stairs behind the sidhe Prince, "Merely that if I refused to tell her where you were I could be assured it would be the last thing I did."

Sage found himself rolling his eyes resignedly as they finally passed through the door to the dungeons and into the halls. As Bane followed him out, he paused for a moment to decide just where he ought to station himself next; knowing that a few short hours would not enough to go out anywhere, which limited to anywhere else in the castle. He might have decided on the study, but he would rather not run the risk of encountering Rowan there again and instead turned his feet in the direction of his room. Bane followed silently behind him.

"Rowan is really becoming more and more of a child the longer he lives," sighed Sage quietly, almost to himself, as they walked along the halls. "I have not seen him act this petulant or insecure since before Lady Tullaryn's passing."

Bane rumbled an agreement to his Prince's words, his golden eyes narrowing to slits.

"He is becoming more dangerous, my Prince," the familiar murmured, "I would be guessing if I said that you will probably not make a move to keep him from his ambitions at this point, but if he is not reigned in it could be disastrous for more than just those he plans to drag into the conflict."

"I am aware," Sage murmured, turning a corner sharply and moving around a pair of phoukas crouched there, dealing cards. He waited until they were out of hearing range of the fey before continuing in a low murmur, "There is really nothing to be done about Rowan. The only one who could have a hope of bringing him to his senses is Mab, and she dotes on him too much to even consider that he could be behind such an immense wrong, or even deal proper repercussions for it."

"It may be pushing the boundaries to say so, my Prince," Bane rumbled, "But Prince Rowan also fears Lord Wrath, possibly even more so than Queen Mab. Since Lord Wrath frightens even the Lady Queen, it is possible he might have a chance of pulling Rowan back in line."

"Asking Lord Wrath for such a tedious favor would be as favorable as approaching Rowan myself," murmured Sage. "There is nothing to be gained by seeking out the King and asking him to come deal with my child of a brother. If Rowan does ever bring more trouble down on us than he can manage to atone for, Mab will be sure to deal with accordingly."

He didn't mention what may happen if that danger ended up with them in a war. He was still on the fence about the issue if he had to be entirely honest with himself. Wars had been fought before between Summer and Winter, so it was no unusual thing, but to think a war would be fought over the dignity of a single girl bordered on insanity. Still, it was not unheard of. The mortals had indulged in such stupidity before, and even the fey had come perilously close to similar calamity when Meghan Chase had been considered the plague of the Nevernever before she had managed to bring the existence of the Iron Fey into the eyes of the world. If it had almost happened before, why could it not actually come to be later? For a fey to disbelieve anything because they considered it "impossible" was the worst hypocrisy, and Sage had been raised to know better than to think anything was beyond believability, though the Iron Fey had certainly been one such thing to test his wit. It had only been because of the combination of his belief that something so impossible could exist, and through the aid of Meghan Chase, that he had even survived an encounter with them, so he was not one to sit idly and think that something could not happen because it was simply so impossible to comprehend it. He could only hope for now, though that the potential of a war remained dormant, and Rowan at least managed to get some grip on himself before he threw everything into chaos with his childish whims.

He had reached his room now, and pushed the door open, feeling suddenly fatigued as he laid eyes on his bed, and after quickly shrugging out of his coat and kicking of his boots he threw himself down on it, spread-eagled, and heaved a deep sigh of both exhaustion and contentment. Bane nudged the bedroom door closed behind him, and plodded over to his corner of the room where a mass of furs waited to serve as his bed, and settled himself there, head on his paws, his eyes on his Prince.

"I ask that you wake me in time to attend dinner with Mab," Sage murmured, throwing an arm over his face to block out the faint gray light seeping in through the window.

"Of course, my Prince," murmured Bane in his low voice, blinking golden eyes at his master.

Sighing once more, Sage rolled onto his side, his emerald eyes falling closed. His mind still whirled with all manner of thoughts, many of them circulating around Rowan and his schemes, and others around the targeted victims of those schemes, just wondering what might come to light if Rowan got his way. Yanking one of the fur coverlets over himself, he settled more comfortably into his bed, half wishing that he were at his Lodge instead, where no one could really bother him. Of course, his thoughts were bothersome enough no matter where he was… Though it would have been so much easier, he reflected, if Catherine had never set foot in the Nevernever in the first place. With any luck, she would soon return to her Mortal Realm, and then Rowan would be forced to give up his useless venture of retaliation. It would make everything much more bearable for everyone else if he did, because otherwise, there was bound to be hell to pay on both sides of the border.

Forcing his mind to slow down, really wishing for at least a decent hour of sleep before he was called to attend dinner with his mother and brother—an event sure to ruin his entire night—he exhaled slowly, forcing the thoughts from his mind, filing them carefully away for later contemplation. For the moment, sleep was his priority, no matter how short or fitful it may end up being. Of course, being a Prince did not always warrant that all would stay away from him when he wished it…

No sooner had he finally cleared the last few fragments of thought from his mind than there was a loud series of knocking at his door, rapping out an almost musical tune, and Sage opened his tired eyes as Bane lifted his head with a low growl.

"I know you are in there, Sage," sang Rowan's voice, and Sage felt himself grimace while Bane pinned his ears back and bared his teeth at the door. "Let me in, I need to talk with you again."

Sage did not even bother himself to answer, merely settling down further in his bed and closing his eyes with a small sigh of annoyance, wondering if he could possibly dissuade his brother into leaving if he pretended he wasn't there. As the knocking persisted, however, Sage became of the opinion that that was not at all the case, but he refused to allow Rowan into his room, for whatever reason.

"Open the door, Sage," Rowan said, sounding half amused, half resigned, "Even you cannot fall asleep in five minutes. And I should warn you that if you intend to keep ignoring me, I will continue to stand here until dinner. And before you ask, no, I do not have anything better to do, so sorry to disappoint you. Now, won't you come let your little brother in to talk?"

Sage stifled a groan as he rolled out of his bed, rising to his feet, and strode to the door, wishing more than anything he had more tolerance of Rowan so he could just continue to ignore the younger Prince, but, alas, he had not perfected that art quite yet. So, with all the reluctance in the world, he opened the door to reveal Rowan lounging in the doorway, a lazy smirk on his face and a twinkle in his ice blue eyes.

"What do you want, Rowan?" Sage asked, not allowing his brother to step pass him, and planting himself firmly in the doorway to keep the younger Prince from slipping into the room.

"Won't you at least invite me in first?" Rowan asked, giving his most convincing pout, but Sage merely raised his eyebrows, unmoved.

"No," he said curtly, and Rowan sighed, looking resigned again, even as he flashed a smirk up at his sibling.

"I hope you aren't upset about earlier," the younger Prince said in his usual drawl, "Our little chat and all, and having mother come to speak with you."

"If anyone is upset, I imagine it is you, for me going on to tell our mother that you are still set on getting back at Catherine," said Sage, only wishing a moment later he'd refrained from using Catherine's name at all. It seemed to encourage Rowan even further.

"I admit, I was a little disappointed you went so low as to tattle on me to mother," he admitted, somehow managing to duck under Sage's arm and into the room, much to Sage's chagrin, "Though, I'm more interested as to why you keep saying the half-breed's name."

"It _is _her name, after all," sighed Sage, turning to face his sibling as Rowan settled himself on the bed.

"Yes, but I heard you corrected mother on her name earlier, from what one of the girls was telling me about what happened after I left a while ago after my punishment."

Oh, goody, thought Sage, feeling himself grow weary all over again as he leaned back against the bedroom door, closing it against his better judgment, and facing his brother with both eyebrows raised.

"So?" he asked with a stifled yawn, nonchalant under his brother's narrowed blue stare. "Is it a crime now to correct Mab on how to properly pronounce someone's name?"

"No," said Rowan idly, leaning back on the bed, bracing his arms to keep himself up as he smirked rather devilishly at his brother, "Only that I don't know why, of all the people in the world, you decided to correct her on _Catherine's_ name. Why do you care if mistakenly calls her that?"

"I would hate for the Queen to embarrass herself publicly if she were to call Catherine a different name in front of the rest of the courts," Sage replied simply. "But if you feel so inclined to let our mother make a fool of herself, by all means, do not let me get in the way."

"You really enjoy your newfound power of shrugging off the real truth, don't you, Sage?" Rowan asked with a small laugh. "You're actually getting good at it, though I think you use the talent a bit too much."

"You question my honesty?" Sage asked, narrowing his emerald eyes at his brother.

"Not at all," said Rowan, his sapphire eyes dancing with malice, "I am only saying that I don't believe that is your only motivation. You're interested in that girl as much as I am."

"If you like to think so," Sage answered wearily.

"Are you going to tell me the girl means nothing to you?" Rowan inquired lightly.

"I am going to tell you that my only interest comes from the fact that I have questions, as I always have, and she presents a problem in not answering them," Sage said calmly, still unbothered by anything other than his brother's useless persistence.

"And why bother her for answers?" Rowan inquired, and Sage felt that warning bell sound off in his head.

Rowan was digging, and whatever he was looking for, Sage was certain he was not in any way going to enjoy telling his brother, and was probably better off avoiding the issue entirely if he could. Unfortunately, from the way Rowan had then chosen to rise from the bed and moved to stand just in front of him, keeping him from moving away from the door, he suspected that Rowan was not about to let him avoid anything. Well, if that was the case, that only left him to tread as carefully as he was able around the issue until Rowan either grew tired of pushing the issue or, perhaps, dinner was served and he was left unable to press his brother further.

"Why not?" Sage asked back, folding his arms over his chest. "She was there when I decided to ask, so is there any particular reason why I shouldn't be interested in the answers she might give?"

"And just what kind of questions do you have, brother," Rowan asked softly, his blue eyes glinting, "That require you to go hassling little half-breed kittens?"

"Whatever they are, I am sure they are none of your business, Rowan, and you would do well to step down before I lose my temper," Sage warned him, "You have already bothered me enough as it is today and I am tired. I would ask that you leave my room now so I might rest to better manage my temper with you and mother tonight at dinner."

"Ooh," chortled Rowan, eyeing his brother with keen interest now, "Is someone getting a little short with me?"

"You are toeing a line," Sage murmured, narrowing his emerald eyes to slits at the younger sidhe Prince. "You came to speak with me, so go ahead and get to your point before I really do lose my temper."

"Alright, alright," laughed Rowan, putting his hands up and stepping back from Sage, his eyes alight with glee, "I really only came to ask a simple question, and to issue another warning, since you decided to get fresh with me earlier by setting mother on my tail."

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't tempted Fate in the first place and sent her to harass me," Sage replied.

"You rose to the challenge, brother dear, I think that's enough to get me a little annoyed with you," Rowan purred, narrowing his blue eyes and smirking, "But, that is past now. So, let's just make a few new ground rules for the game. I won't go prodding at mother to harass you if you keep from tattling on me and making my game more difficult to enjoy. Do you think we can agree to that? After all, it's not as much fun to go about my business now that mother is practically breathing down my neck after your little tip off."

"I do not particularly care what you do at this point, Rowan," said Sage with a weary look thrown at his younger sibling, "So long as you do not make it a habit to go setting Mab on me when I have really done nothing to warrant it. If you are so unconvinced that I will keep my silence, perhaps you should go ahead and give her the entire story and see how well that serves you."

"Do not threaten me, brother," Rowan warned him quietly.

"I am not threatening you," Sage denied, "Merely telling you that what you do is pointless. I have agreed to keep my silence regarding your private affairs, so why you seek to give me unnecessary trouble is really quite puzzling to me. But I am getting tired, so hurry and ask whatever your question is and then leave."

"Fine, then," sighed Rowan, his tone a little icier than before as he leveled a dark stare at his brother, "I just want to hear the truth on this matter, since it's been giving me such a headache trying to puzzle out on my own…"

Oh, he had a headache? Sage thought, cocking an eyebrow. Rowan wanted to complain of a headache when Sage's own head felt like it was pounding in time with his heartbeat.

"Your question, Rowan," he prompted his brother as Rowan continued to smirk at him, "Before I decide to throw you out without hearing you."

"You hid Catherine," Rowan said, his voice thoughtful, "You danced out of the truth for her and she did the same for you, though I'm still trying to work out how or why she would bother… So, maybe you can tell me, brother."

"You think I know the mind of a half-blood?" Sage asked, giving a small snort of derision.

"I do not think you know entirely what goes on in her mind, no," Rowan admitted, "But I think you might at least have a decent answer if I asked why you think she protected you. Or, more specifically, if you think she is in love with you."

Sage wondered why, out of the all the impossible things the fey could do that left the humans marveling, and after all the dreams that humans had concocted about turning back time, why there was not some device in all of the Nevernever that could not permit him to do just that, and turn back the clock to when Rowan had started knocking on his door. Right now, he'd like nothing better than to be lying in his bed, blankets up to his chin, and pretending for all the world that those obnoxious knocks were just a figment of his imagination, and that he had not let Rowan in to begin with, but, unfortunately, for whatever reason, time travel was still as yet something undiscovered in Faery.

"Why do you care if she does or not?" sighed Sage, wishing he could concoct a better answer; knowing he couldn't.

"I just said it's been bothering me why she even considered protecting you in the first place, though it could just as easily be that she is grateful for the kindness you showed her while she was under your watch," Rowan said with a lazy smile. "If you don't think she's in love with you, just say so. And if you think she is, tell me. Either way, it is only your opinion, so does it really matter? I wouldn't think less of you if you were arrogant enough to think you had gotten another poor little girl to fall for you."

Sage gave a resigned sigh, lifting a hand to massage at his sore temples, and fixed Rowan with a rather icy stare.

"I do not think she is in love with me, no," he said calmly, to which Rowan cocked an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" Rowan inquired, and Sage could tell his brother didn't quite believe him.

"Yes, now, since I have answered your question and all of your other annoyances, I am dismissing you from my room," Sage told him curtly, stepping forward so Rowan had to step back to avoid bumping into him, and Sage yanked open his bedroom door, gesturing out of it when Rowan didn't move.

"You really don't even think she cares about her savior?" Rowan asked, even as he sashayed towards the door, his blue eyes alight with malice.

"If she does, it is none of my concern, and even less of yours," Sage answered, and as Rowan stepped over the threshold he slammed the door behind him.

He heard his younger brother give a rather devious chuckle from the other side, as though highly entertained by something he had said or done, but he was past caring what entertained Rowan at this point, and slowly made his way back to his bed, ignoring his sibling as Rowan called through the door,

"I will see you at dinner, then, brother."

Sage murmured something to himself, a little utterance that had Bane giving him a semi-amused look, as he climbed back into his bed, yanking the coverlets up over his head and exhaling a sigh.

"Forgive me for disturbing you, my Prince," Bane murmured from his corner, "But I am surprised to hear you say you do not think the girl is in love with you after all that has happened."

"She is not in love with me," Sage said firmly, though tiredly, from beneath the coverlets, "She has merely put herself under the delusion that she does, and that is not my concern. If she is foolish enough to continue to entertain the idea that she has affections for me, so be it, but I do not believe that qualifies as love in any sense of the word."

Bane did not reply, instead placing his head back on his paws as Sage set to the task of, once again, removing any and all bothersome thought from his mind. It took a little longer this time than it had before, as Rowan had given him even more to ponder over, much to his annoyance, and he was still rather irritated to hear Rowan act as though he knew everything under the sun, particularly about the feelings between Catherine and Sage. There were no feelings, at least not on Sage's part. Whatever Catherine happened to feel concerning him, as he said, was not at all his business, and he really didn't particularly care what she felt or thought.

He heaved a deep sigh, letting his emerald eyes fall closed as he laid on his side beneath the coverlets, finally allowing the first hints of sleep to creep up on him, a welcoming darkness and warmth that he hoped would give him at least some reprieve from the events of the past few hours.


	32. Chapter 32

**So, it is only fair to warn you, that this is another of those beginning chapters that will have several seemingly random cut off points, and I ask you to bear with me and keep reading, even if it frustrates the hell out of you. :P **

"I want to—"

"I know you want to, but you _can't_."

"_Why?!_"

"Because you promised you wouldn't!"

"What the fu—!"

"_NIKKI!_"

Nikki and Catherine were glaring at each other, and Trinity stood between them, a hand outstretched to each of her friends, keeping them apart, with Puck keeping his hands on Nikki's shoulders and Demon with one arm around Catherine's waist, aiding Trinity in her measures to separate the two. Tertius lingered just behind Trinity, waiting to see if he might be needed for whatever purpose, and Glitch was lounging off to the side, watching the scene unfold with a mildly interested expression. Catherine had finished telling Nikki and the others just a few moments ago about Rowan, and her shoulder, and the blood bond, and, as she had anticipated, neither Nikki nor Trinity had taken it well, but where Trinity had forced herself to accept that there was nothing she could do, now that she'd sworn to Catherine she wouldn't go running off to murder Rowan in his sleep, Nikki had taken the news with a little less grace. Catherine couldn't altogether blame her friend, but at the same time, Nikki _had _promised her that she wouldn't make her stay behind, or go running off to bring her revenge down on Rowan's head, but Nikki seemed to be regretting that decision now.

No sooner had she gotten the news than she had been on her feet, stalking away down the misty hill nearby, and when asked just where she was off to she had succinctly replied with "To kill that fucking ice bastard!"

Puck, of course, had been rather proud of this declaration, until he realized Nikki was dead serious and on the verge of breaking her promise, and had raced after her with Catherine and Trinity to cut her off. Catherine had put herself in front of Nikki, who had demanded her friend to get out of the way, but that hadn't been on Catherine's mind at all, and she had continued to stand in front of her friend, both hands on her friend's shoulders, keeping her from taking another step forward.

"You promised," she had reminded Nikki, to which Nikki had sworn very loudly and broken free of her friend's grip, beginning to stalk around her. Somehow, Puck had ended up restraining her, and Trinity had gotten between the two girls when Nikki had started yelling furiously about how she was going to kill Rowan if it was the last thing she did, and Catherine had been heatedly arguing back that she couldn't because that would be breaking her promise, _and _was liable to get her killed, and she wasn't about to watch her friend die. Demon had also entered the fray, locking an arm around Catherine's waist to keep her from whatever he thought she might be thinking of doing, though no one was quite sure just what had motivated him to do anything, as Catherine had done nothing more than continue to remind Nikki—albeit angrily—that she was bound to her oath now and couldn't go back on it no matter what she wanted to do. Tertius had also stepped in, seemingly worried about Trinity placing herself between two rather hostile girls, and though she knew he was only there to back her up, she'd had to resist the urge to snap at him to buzz off because she could handle herself.

As a result, they were where they now stood, looking more like they had been in the midst of a bitch fight and were attempting to prevent it than what had actually happened. And though they'd been in such a position for the past ten minutes while Nikki and Catherine took turns ranting at each other, Nikki was no less compliant or happy.

"I want him dead," Nikki said through clenched teeth, her dark eyes blazing with fury, her hands in fists, though she didn't make a move to break away from Puck, or push Trinity out of the way. "Dead and bleeding and broken."

"I know, Nikki, I know," Catherine said desperately, half glaring at her friend, caught between exasperation and annoyance, "And you've got every right to, but I'm telling you you can't because you promised you wouldn't and I really, really, really don't want you dead because you went off to kill him for this. He doesn't even know!"

"How do we know he doesn't know?" demanded Nikki furiously, and Trinity groaned.

They'd already gone through this five minutes ago…

"If he knew," Trinity explained patiently to her dark haired friend, fixing her with a steely blue gaze, "Then Cat would probably be in twenty times the amount of pain she's been in since we got here, because he'd be making sure she was feeling it, and we should be damn lucky he hasn't figured it out yet, but if you go and try to make him pay hell for it, chances are he'll find out. And I love you to death, Nik, you know I do, and I know you could lay everyone one of us here on our asses, but Rowan has Mab and a whole Court behind him and I really don't think you'd get to him before he got to you."

Nikki growled incoherently under her breath as Puck continued to keep restraining hands on her shoulders, the fey looking somewhere between amused and weary as he continued to keep her from rushing off to do something stupid. He was just as pissed off as she was, to be perfectly honest, but he was also on the same page as Trinity when it came to the results of what would happen if Nikki ran off trying to be a hero. There was a nil chance she'd get at Rowan before the Ice Prince managed to get at her, and even if the rest of the group went with her to back her up, they probably wouldn't make it out of Tir Na Nog in one piece, and that was assuming they even got the chance to lay the Prince out on his ass and shove him in his grave for what he'd done. There was also the tiny little fact that he was shocked more than anything to hear about the blood bond. Like the rest of the group—or at least the fey that had been knowledgeable about such things—he had thought blood oaths were only valid if there was a spoken agreement between two parties during an exchange of blood, but apparently that wasn't the case.

And after listening to Demon's explanation for how he believed the oath had come into existence, it really made sense, and Puck was wishing he'd known more about it to begin with, or that Oberon had, for that matter. It would have made Rowan's punishment much more severe, but it also could have made things potentially fatal for Catherine if the Prince realized the kind of power his blood oath had over her, and, really, he was more for keeping Cat alive and as well as she could be than letting Rowan get his hide whooped and having him take out all the resulting angst on Catherine through the blood tie.

"Nikki," he murmured softly, gently tightening his grip on the girl's shoulders, pulling her back against him when she didn't resist, and dropping his chin onto her head, "I know you're pissed off, really, I do, and I'm just as much for flaying that bastard alive as you are, but you've got to stop and think for a minute about everything that could happen if you go racing off like this…"

"I know," she muttered, surprising him as she sank back against his chest, her breath leaving her in a resigned whoosh, "I know all the shit that could hit the ceiling if I go AWOL, but Puck…"

He winced at the pleading note in her voice, and felt his heart turnover as she looked up at him with possibly the most desperate, imploring expression he'd ever seen her wear. The pain glimmering in her dark brown eyes was almost too much for him to handle…

"Puck, he is _hurting her_…! For the third time, he's hurting her and that really, really pisses me off! It goes beyond pissing me off!"

"I know, beautiful, I know," he murmured, now dropping his hands to wrap his arms tightly around her waist as she turned to press her face into his chest. "Really, I do…"

"I want him dead," she grumbled against his shirt, her hands fisting in the cloth of his tunic.

"Get in line," said Trinity dryly, though she looked a little relieved to see that the moment of danger was now past, letting her hands drop as she stepped back. "Really, Nik, you think I'm not just as desperate to get my hands on that bastard? Believe me, between you and me, he'd probably wish he'd never been born ten times over. I wish I could make a worse threat than that, but the English language is terribly limiting."

Nikki gave a small snort of amusement, though she was still clearly distressed, but at least she was done trying to go off killing Winter Princes, for the moment anyway.

"So," sighed Trinity, turning back to Cat, her blue eyes glimmering with a similar pain to Nikki's as she faced her friend, "What can we do now? Or is there anything at all? Give the way Demon was talking about it…it sounds like there's really nothing…"

She didn't like to say there was nothing to be done, considering you would think in a magical land where everything that was supposed to be impossible by human standards was actually very possible, because it just seemed to completely defy the very law the fey lived by, but she was getting a sinking feeling in her stomach that said there really was nothing at all to be done. And given the way Catherine looked remorsefully at her, it was true.

"I wish there was," she murmured, her jade eyes apologetic as she offered her friend the smallest of smiles. "If there is, I don't know about it. Demon says our best bet is to find Wrath and see if he might know how to fix it, since, being the oldest fey on the face of the earth, it's our best bet."

"Makes sense," Trinity said with a lame shrug and a glance at Demon, who she noticed still kept an arm around Catherine's waist despite the need for it had negated. "I would have suggested we go talk to Oberon, but since you just sat there and told us that's probably a really, really bad idea, it sounds like our best option for now is to find Wrath, and now for two reasons."

"Maybe he'll be more willing to see us if we have more than one reason," suggested Nikki, still speaking into Puck's shirt, "I only hope he has a damn good idea of what to do about this, because otherwise I _am _going to hire an assassin to kill Rowan."

"I know you think that would solve a lot of problems, especially since that is the one loophole in your promise," Puck told her with a wan smile, "But that would really actually be just as piss poor an idea as if you went to off him yourself, beautiful."

"I _could_ hire an assassin," Nikki said then, her head snapping up so abruptly that she banged it on Puck's chin, causing them both to yelp and jerk away from each other in pain. Nikki was clutching the top of her head, and Puck the corner of his jaw.

Over where he lounged, Glitch gave a snort of laughter as Puck doubled over, groaning in pain, and as the Summer fey straightened up to level a glare at the Iron knight, Glitch fought his hardest to keep a straight face. It was the worst attempt Trinity had ever seen anyone make in history.

"You laughing at something, Glitchy?" Puck sneered at the knight, who smirked back at the Summer fey.

"Just the new update to your face, Goodfellow," Glitch replied with a rather mocking salute, "I must say, I'm sure the jaw realignment will do wonders for you. You might become the new David Hasselhoff."

"Fuck you," grumbled Puck, flipping the knight off.

"Now, children, play nicely," said Trinity as Glitch snickered. "We've got a long way to go and I don't think it's going to be a particularly enjoyable time if you two are already being asses to each other."

"He started it," muttered Puck, turning away to face Nikki as she came up to him, still massaging her head.

"I don't care," said Trinity, her lips quirking in the smallest of smiles. "You two are going to get along, or I'll whoop the both of you and I won't hear any complaints about it, alright?"

Glitch didn't answer, too busy feigning a look of innocence as she glared at him to do anything else, though the mischievous twinkle in his violet eyes was more than giveaway that he really had no intention of getting along with Puck, and Puck was currently engrossed in making sure that his jaw was still connected to his face while Nikki gently patted his head.

"Alright then," sighed Trinity, turning now to look at Catherine, Demon and Tertius, who were standing behind her. "So, before we get this adventure underway, and while I'm still managing to keep from losing my mind and pulling a Nikki and wanting to go kill Rowan, who is going to take charge of this party? Because I have no idea where we're going."

"I can guide the way," Demon said at once, as she had suspected he would, his yellow-green eyes glinting in the faint light that seemed to shimmer directly from the mist around them, "Though I will not be the one to take lead of any other situations."

"So, you're the GPS, not the driver," said Trinity dully. Demon blinked once in confusion.

"What?" he asked, and Glitch gave a snort of amusement.

"You're the map, not the leader," Catherine murmured to the Cait Sith, barely hiding a smile of her own.

"Oh," he said, frowning down at her for a moment, then up at Trinity, "Then why didn't she say that?"

Trinity rolled her eyes and turned away before she could lose herself to laughter, and instead focused her attention on Tertius, who was standing just a few feet, looking just as amused as she felt, with his silver eyes bright through the dimness around them. He smiled at her as she met his eyes, and she felt her stomach do a silly little flip, and her heart stuttered somewhat against her ribs.

"So," he said, speaking for everyone to hear, "If the Cait Sith is prepared to guide us, should we go ahead and get started? It is a long journey to the Briars."

He spoke to the group at large, but Trinity felt his eyes only on her, as if he were only speaking to her, and felt herself nod in vague agreement as he continued to look at her with his piercing silver eyes.

"Then let's get cracking," said Puck, still massaging his jaw as he stepped forward. "If it's as long a trip as you're saying it is, then I don't think I want to wait to get started. We've got a six month deadline to meet here, people, and then we've got to get our asses back to Arcadia in time to escort his royal highness to Winter's Elysium."

"Because I'm so sure we're going to take half a year to find Wrath," Nikki said disbelievingly.

"It very well could take that long," Demon said, shocking them, though he looked unconcerned as they all turned to stare at him, "Wrath is not as easy to find as anyone might wish him to be, particularly if he is not interested in being found."

"Well, he doesn't exactly know we're looking for him, does he?" Nikki asked, frowning a little as she glanced up at the Cait Sith.

"Don't assume so," Demon warned her, "Wrath is one of the most powerful forces in the entire Nevernever, and he has eyes everywhere."

"That's not creepy at all," murmured Trinity, and Tertius chuckled softly.

Demon shrugged, his expression rather bored as he looked around, as though searching for something. Maybe he was looking for those eyes he'd just been talking about.

"We should start heading west," he said then, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to find what he was looking for, and nodding towards a non-descript patch of mist just ahead of them. "If we travel for three miles, we should find another trod that will get us closer to the Briars. All in all, the trip there shouldn't take more than five days."

"But it isn't the trip that's going to take so long," Catherine said, frowning as she glanced up at the Cait Sith, "It's finding Wrath that will be hard."

"Yes," he agreed, nodding his silvery head. "Hopefully he will be curious or willing enough to hear us out, and be in a good enough temperament to help us with what we need. Even if he does not have an answer to the blood oath between you and Prince Rowan, he should at least be able to help us locate your father."

"If he isn't even able to do that, then going to have found him will basically have been pointless," said Trinity.

"It will have been pointless if we don't manage to find him," Nikki added, to which Puck nodded.

"Can we not worry about what _will _be pointless when what we are currently doing registers as just as pointless as what you are worrying about?" Demon asked in a rather exasperated voice, casting a yellow-green glare around at all of them.

"And what are we doing that's so pointless?" demanded Puck, giving the Cait Sith a rather affronted look.

"Absolutely nothing and that is precisely the problem," Demon told him with a little sniff.

"Well, we were waiting for you to lead the way," Puck told him indignantly. "You're the map, after all, you tell us where to go."

"I just did," Demon replied.

"Wow, you guys are useless," sighed Catherine suddenly, taking them all rather by surprise as she finally broke away from Demon, walking several paces forwards, then pausing and glancing back at him. "You said west, right?"

She pointed to where he had earlier gestured they should go, which didn't look any different than the surrounding places around them, since everything was covered in a smoky haze of mist. But for whatever reason that spot was special to Demon, who nodded in answer to her question.

"Then we go this way," she said, turning back around beginning to walk purposefully forward, leaving the others to mull about behind her.

"Well, she's turned into quite the pioneer," said Glitch, sauntering forward from his lounging area to join the rest of the group, and Tertius nodded in agreement.

"You spend a night with a couple of bastard princes and see what it does to you," Trinity muttered to him under her breath, taking the first step after her friend with Nikki following close behind.

"Tempting offer, but I prefer to spend my nights alone," Glitch replied, falling into step behind the pair of them with Tertius at his side, leaving Demon and Puck to be the caboose.

"Why alone?" Nikki asked, glancing back at him with a rather bemused look. "You telling me you don't even like women?"

"I like women," Glitch said, a little shock showing in the midst of his amusement as he met her inquisitive brown gaze, "Just I don't like what generally comes from being with a woman."

"Commitment?" she asked, arcing a brow at him.

"Babies," he said wisely, and she snorted with laughter. "You think I'm joking, but I'm telling you, the one thing that comes out of sex is always babies."

"Tell that to Titania and Oberon," Puck said with a large smirk. "They've been together for centuries and I haven't seen a kid out of them yet. If I have, it's because Titania picked up a stray changeling or Oberon decided to go get cozy with some pretty mortal lady."

"That sounded almost close to an insult concerning Queen Meghan," Glitch said, craning his neck around to fix Puck with a stony glare.

"I'm not saying anything bad about Meghan's mom, hush," Puck snapped at him, also glaring, "I'm just saying that Titania and Oberon themselves haven't had any kids together, which I'm actually kind of grateful for, because I bet you my ass I'd go from being the right hand man to the right hand babysitter in two seconds flat the minute the little bouncing bundle of mayhem was born."

"And what makes you think you can't handle a little mayhem?" Nikki asked the fey, casting him a devious smile.

"I can handle mayhem, just not when that mayhem happens to poop and not be able to clean itself up," said Puck, flashing a smile of his own and winking. "I cause mayhem, I don't clean it up."

"You are so hopeless," she said with a little laugh, and he smirked. "It's a baby! Babies are so cute!"

"Have you ever had to change one?" he asked, arching a fiery red eyebrow at her.

"As a matter of fact I have," she told him smartly, turning her nose up. "Have you?"

"No, I can't say I have," he said, wrinkling his nose slightly at the very thought, "I try to avoid those types of torment if I can. Not that any smart person would let me near their kid as it is."

"Then you can't say that taking care of a baby is so horrible," she told him.

"You should probably be aware that Nikki loves babies," Trinity told a stunned looking Puck over her shoulder, grinning at him. "She really doesn't give a hoot or a holler about what they do, whether its pooping or vomiting, because, in the end, they're just sweet little bundles of joy. So if you're seriously considering taking things to the next level with her, be prepared sometime in the future for the babies that are sure to come, because you won't make it very far if you say she can't have kids."

"Why the hell are we even contemplating Robin Goodfellow having children?" asked Glitch, sounding for all the world as though the very concept of it were outrageous and something truly terrifying.

"That's what I'm saying," said Puck, gaping at Trinity. "Woman, we haven't even gotten that far yet!"

"I'm not saying you have, I'm just telling you what to expect if you do," Trinity told him casually, waving a hand as she turned back to face frontwards as she continued to follow Catherine. "Even if you only get to adopt, you're having kids one way or the other."

"Could we stop talking about what might happen if Puck and I ever have kids?" Nikki asked then, turning to give her friend a rather dark glare. "I love kids, really, but if you're trying to scare him off before I've even got him house trained, I'm going to be kind of annoyed."

"House trained?" said Puck, stunned, but she didn't seem to hear him.

"He should at least know what he's getting himself into," Trinity pointed out to Nikki, deliberately feeding the fire as she glanced back at Puck to see him staring in something like horror at the pair of them. "You want kids, and he'll have to deliver."

"Hey!" Puck exclaimed, now turning a brilliant shade of crimson.

"What's the matter, Goodfellow?" Glitch asked with a little snicker, "Suddenly getting a little shy at the idea of what happens when a one and one decide to make three?"

"For the record, you suck at math," Puck informed the Iron knight with a pointed glare, "And secondly, Tri, if you do not stop this heinous train of thought, I may have to make Tertius do something about it!"

"Make Tertius do something about it?" Trinity laughed outright at that. "And what the hell could you make him do to make me stop talking?"

"I've got a few things in mind," said Puck with a rather devious smirk.

"I'd love to see you try them," snorted Trinity, rolling her eyes, unconcerned.

"Alright, you asked for it." Puck turned now to Tertius, who was looking warily between the Summer fey and Trinity, a glow of humor in his silver eyes as he met Puck's narrowed green stare. "My good man," Puck addressed him rather formally, and Tertius's eyebrows shot up, "I believe you owe the good lady a kiss, if I am not very much mistaken. And I furthermore believe if you do give unto her the touch of thine noble lips, she may from that point choose to swoon in your very embrace, which would all do us a hell of a favor!"

"You were on a roll right up until then, Puck," Catherine said from in front of him, turning back to grin.

"Feh," snorted the faery, rolling his emerald eyes, hands on his hips, looking the perfect image of indignant.

"Though I hate to admit it, he has a point," Trinity sighed, pausing then in the middle of her forward stride to turn an about-face to glare at Tertius.

"What? About you shutting up?" Puck asked hopefully.

Trinity spared him a withering look. "Nik," she said, "Do me a favor and shut him up, please."

"No guarantees," Nikki said with a little grin.

"So, if he isn't right about you shutting up, what _is _he right about?" asked Glitch idly, raising an eyebrow at Trinity as she continued to stare down his partner.

"I didn't say he was right about anything," she said with a little sniff. "I just said he had a point."

"Having a point, being right, what's the difference?" demanded Puck, looking exasperated. "Tertius! _Please_! She's confusing herself! Just hurry up and addle her brains so completely that she doesn't have to think anymore! If you won't consider it a favor to us, at least consider it one to her."

"She hasn't asked me to kiss her yet," said Tertius with a small smile directed at Puck, who groaned, throwing his hands in the air.

"Which is the point I was about to say Puck made and I am going to emphasize," Trinity said then, her hands on her hips, her nails drumming idly. "You owe me a kiss, sir. Or do you want to tell me you've magically forgotten that you—"

She didn't get much farther than that, as Tertius took one step forward towards her, bent his head, and pressed his lips to hers, effectively silencing anything she might go on to say further. Of course, though she couldn't speak didn't mean Trinity didn't have other ways of expressing her current state of mind on things. No sooner had Tertius's lips touched hers then she threw arms enthusiastically around his neck, pulling him closer, and he twined his arms just as eagerly around her waist, deepening the kiss.

"Yeck," muttered Puck, pointedly looking in another direction.

Glitch seconded that opinion by grimacing, though he didn't quite have the cleverness to look away and continued to watch his comrade in arms and Trinity make out quite thoroughly. At least until Nikki had the foresight to lean over and put a hand over his eyes, to which he smirked and sighed.

Catherine was pretending not to notice the couple in the midst of their rather energetic reunion, busying herself with bending down to peer interestedly at a lady bug that she'd just spotted crawling along one of the leaves on the ground. Demon watched her watch the bug, also attempting to tune out Trinity and Tertius.

If Trinity had been in her right mind, she might have made the suggestion that they all get a grip, but she was not at all in her right mind currently. It was kind of hard to be with Tertius's lips pressing firmly against hers, warm and soft, a complete contrast to the way she'd imagined they'd be, and though his kiss was quite assertive, every brush of his lips was tender, though the way he had his arms locked tightly around her waist served as a rather stark difference, as she was finding it rather hard to breathe as he held her. But that could just as easily have been caused by the fact that her head was spinning like a top, and she couldn't quite figure out if she was standing up or lying down at the moment. Everything around her kept flipping every so often, leaving her very much discombobulated.

It ended too soon, though, and Tertius, being the responsible, mindful one, was the first to pull away, though everything from the ragged manner of his breathing and the fiery glow in his silver eyes told her that he did so very reluctantly. He leaned his forehead against hers, just breathing and staring into her sapphire eyes, and she stared right back, dazed. He smiled is slow, soft smile at her and she felt her heart melt.

"You kiss all of your girlfriends that way?" she asked quietly, slightly breathless, and heard his answering chuckle.

"Well, since I have only had one girlfriend, I suppose I would have to say yes," he murmured quietly back, and her stomach did that funny little flipping move that seemed so commonplace around him. "I hope she doesn't mind."

"Not at all," Trinity murmured, giving a weak smile of her own, feeling her lips burn as though he'd singed them, however corny that might sound to someone else. She really did feel as though her mouth had been scalded right off of her face, and she was half tempted to touch it with her fingers just to ensure it was really still there.

"Should we keep walking?" he asked quietly when another few moments of silence passed by them.

"I would," she said, frowning, "But I don't think my legs will move right now."

He chuckled again, his silver eyes turning to molten mercury as he gaze down at her.

"I could always carry you," he offered.

"I wouldn't say no," she replied.

Now, if Puck had been given the choice, he would have happily interrupted the shining little moment to say they should get on with it if they were going to get going. But Nikki didn't seem to be ready to let him have his fun, and the minute he turned to give his two cents, she was there, clapping a hand over his mouth, and giving him such a severe look that for a moment, he was distinctly reminded of Oberon, never mind the difference in their eye colors.

"If you say one word," she whispered to him, having pulled his head down so she could speak into his ear, "And ruin her moment, I'll make you crawl all the way to the Briars. We got our moment, she gets hers, _capiche_?"

"She interrupted our moment, too," Puck reminded her, his voice muffled behind her hand.

"I don't care, we'd had our moment, she just came along during the afterglow," she muttered back.

"Then why don't I get to come along during _her _afterglow?!"

"Because I said so!"

Puck muttered ineligibly under his breath, his emerald eyes narrowed as he glared half heartedly down at Nikki, who stuck her tongue out at him in a very him-like manner. Inspired by her display, he contemplated her for a moment, then deliberately stuck out of his tongue and licked the palm of her hand.

"EW!" She leapt back, shaking her hand out like she'd burned it, and glared at him as he burst out laughing, causing everyone—including Trinity and Tertius—to look around in alarm and surprise. "Robin Goodfellow!"

"I'm in twouble," he snickered, diving behind a startled looking Catherine as Nikki came stomping back over.

"You licked my hand! That's disgusting!" she snapped at him, glaring at him.

"Turnabouts fair play, beautiful, and I just had to have my moment," he chortled, peering out from around Catherine as Nikki loomed over the pair of them.

"You mean you had to ruin Trinity's," Nikki said tersely, narrowing brown eyes at him, and he shrugged.

"Don't worry about, Nik," sighed Trinity, rolling her sapphire eyes as she and Tertius stepped back from each other, though the knight kept a hand held loosely around her wrist, like a bracelet, as though to be sure she stayed close. "I'll get back at him for it later."

"I'm so afeared," said Puck with a little snort, smirking over at the ivory haired girl. "What're you gonna do? Make out again?"

"Yeah, only this time when you're trying to go to sleep," she snapped back at him, narrowing her blue eyes.

"Oh, nasty," muttered Puck, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Really, now, you'd stoop that low? Imagine all things that could go through my head if you went that far, ma'am, do you really want to give me those kinds of images?"

"If it makes you squirm, then yes," said Trinity with a devilish smile.

"You are a devious individual," Puck said, and she smirked. "Fine, I apologize for ruining the moment; please don't assault my virgin ears with such horrid sounds as the two of you fornicating late in the night."

"You've really got no class, have you, Goodfellow?" Glitch asked with a sigh and roll of his violet eyes.

"Hey, you don't want to hear it any more than I do, so don't even act like it's no biggie," Puck told the Iron knight, who merely offered a lazy smirk in reply. "You were just as mentally scarred as I was just then."

"At least I can hide it better," Glitch replied.

Puck flipped him the bird.

"You guys aren't getting a long," Trinity sang lightly, causing both fey to cringe and look warily over at her.

"I can play nice," said Puck, "Just don't be nasty in the middle of the night and make him stop being an ass and we'll get along just dandy."

"You're being really crude," Nikki told him, though she was grinning.

"I can't help it," he huffed, pouting at her, "I'm annoyed, I'm still kind of tired, actually, and from the looks of it we're about to embark on a who-knows-how-long journey to the Briars, which I only went to the last time and nearly got myself killed—really not fun—looking for the King of Cats who may or may not see, and who may or may not know we are already looking for him."

"You're ranting," Nikki said, walking up and gently patting him in the arm as he took a deep, would-be calming breath.

"I think the sooner we get going, the less he'll have to rant about," Catherine said, straightening up from her ladybug watching activities to face the group, "He'll be too exhausted from all the walking to complain about anything other than how much his feet hurt."

"Lady, given how badly your shoulder is bound to be hurting, I won't even be rude enough to complain about my feet," Puck told her in a noble voice that had Nikki rolling her eyes, despite the flare of anger his words invoked.

She wasn't mad at him, no, she was mad at remembering just _why _Catherine's shoulder was hurting, and would continue to hurt. Glancing over at Trinity as the girl moved closer, she could also see her blue eyed friend was on a similar thinking pattern as her, for her normally bright eyes had darkened as she looked at Catherine, and a small frown had appeared on her face, though Nikki rather thought she ought to be smiling what with Tertius still holding her hand and the fact she'd just gotten her first kiss. Maybe she'd smile later when she got to have a real kiss without Puck there to muck everything up in his usual way.

"Then if we are going," said Demon idly, glancing around the group through bored yellow-green eyes, "We may want to move, now."

"In a hurry, are we?" Puck asked, even as the group started forward again.

"I'd rather like to get somewhere before the end of the day, however short or long it may be," Demon replied, turning his back on the faery. "And if we are going to stand here all day, I don't know why we even bothered coming out here. I thought the whole point was to get moving."

"Wow, everyone's crabby today," muttered Nikki in an aside to Trinity, who nodded her head.

"I think everyone kind of has a reason to be, though," Trinity murmured as they steadily made their way forward through the mist, "When you think about what we've just been sitting around talking about, and what we're getting ready to do. I don't really blame anyone for being in a bad mood."

"True," agreed Nikki with a small sigh, frowning at the back of Catherine's copper colored head.

Trinity saw where her friend was looking, and felt a slow burn of anger develop in her gut, and for a moment the image of Prince Rowan's smug, smirking face was all she could see, and she tightened her hand convulsively into a fist, forgetting for a moment that her hand happened to be holding something else living.

"Ah," Tertius said sharply as her nails dug into his palm, and she started, turning to stare up into his face as he smiled in a rather pained way down at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, quickly loosening her grip, but not releasing her hold on his hand entirely.

"It is fine," he reassured her gently, bending to brush a kiss over the top of her head, sending little shivers running down her spine. "You have a very strong grip. That is a good thing."

"Hm," she mumbled, feeling her cheeks darken with embarrassment, wishing her stomach could hold still for a minute and stop that incessant flipping, no matter how giddy it made her feel. "It's just not good if I'm holding your hand."

He chuckled softly as he straightened up, his silver eyes dancing with amusement from behind his charcoal bangs.

"I think that would be a safe assumption," he agreed with a warm smile, and she felt her heart skip a beat as his thumb feathered across the back of her hand, "Though I understand why you did it…"

"Do you?" she asked with a small sigh, tilting her head back to look at him, a frown on her face.

He nodded slowly, his silver eyes piercing into hers, and a small frown taking the place of his smile as sorrow clouded his gaze.

"You're worried about Catherine," he murmured, lowering his voice so only she could hear him, "And you are just as desperate to make Rowan pay for what he's done as Nicolette is, though you don't say it because you know you have already made a promise to Catherine. But that doesn't change what you feel. You could make a thousand vows never to lay a hand on Rowan for what he's done, but it would never change the fact that you hate him for it. You want him to feel the pain he's caused Catherine…"

Trinity gazed up at him for a long moment, then away as she couldn't stand to look in his eyes anymore, feeling they saw too much, and heaved another sigh, feeling that burning in her gut start again, fanning itself until it was almost a roaring fire, and again she saw Rowan's sneering face, only this time it was as he faced Catherine, cornering her, hurting her. It shouldn't have happened, she thought furiously, barely remembering to stop herself from clenching her hand again, and settling instead for biting down on her lip. He shouldn't have been able to get that close to Catherine, not after the promises Oberon had made. Sure, she knew the King shouldn't be able to be held responsible for what had happened, considering his excuse would be that Catherine had not been in the vicinity where he could keep an eye on her, but that didn't mean she held him any less responsible. And now, even without Oberon knowing the extent of the damage done because of his inability to protect Cat, Trinity had a whole other reason to blame the Summer King. Because of his casual disregard for the issue, and not sending someone to look after Cat when she had left the hall, she was now in constant pain and even anguish because of what Rowan had been enabled to do, because no one had been there to stop him.

And just like Nikki, Trinity wanted Rowan to hurt as much as he'd made Cat hurt. Make him feel the pain of for the time he'd imprisoned her, and frightened her, and for the hurt he caused her now, even when he wasn't in sight anymore. Trinity didn't even care if Mab had said she would deal with the issue, she didn't believe the Ice Queen would ever really punish her son for what he'd done. The most she could hope the Queen had done was taken the proverbial ruler to the back of his hand, but she'd be lucky if Mab had even gone so far as to punish Rowan that way. Even if she did discipline the Prince, it wouldn't be for what he'd done to Catherine, but the embarrassment he had caused Mab at Elysium. Mab couldn't care less for what Rowan had done to Catherine, only that in doing what he had that she'd been forced to admit he was out of line in front of Oberon, Titania, Meghan and Ash, and that was the highest insult to her. Admitting she was wrong or that one of her own had wronged someone else under Oberon's personal watch.

Trinity didn't want Rowan to pay for the humiliation he'd caused his mother, because Mab wasn't that important no matter what the Bitch Queen might think. It was Catherine that had paid the price, and it was Catherine who Rowan should be sorry, not Mab. He hadn't hurt Mab, just her godforsaken pride, but he _had _hurt Catherine…physically and emotionally he had hurt her, and if Trinity ever got her way she'd make him regret it.

"Trinity," murmured Tertius softly, startling her out of her vengeful train of thought.

Looking up at him, it was to see him giving her a patient but slightly pained smile again.

"What?" she asked, confused. He glanced down at their linked hands.

Following his gaze, she found herself gripping his hand so tightly again that his fingertips were turning blue.

"Ah, shoot, sorry!" she apologized; hurriedly loosening her grip again, color flaring in her cheeks.

He chuckled softly, gently flexing his fingers to restore circulation. "It's alright," he murmured, smiling down at her, "But maybe we should try something else."

He released her hand, much to her disappointment, then offered his arm and drew her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"There," he sighed, closing his hand over hers as she fisted it in his sleeve, "Now you can be as forceful as you like."

"And what if I hurt your arm?" she mumbled, glancing up at him.

He laughed aloud at that, causing Glitch to turn and blink in surprise at them.

"There is a key difference between my hand and my arm, Trinity," Tertius informed her, still with that glint of laughter in his silver eyes. "I actually have viable muscle on my arm. You won't hurt me."

She gave him a slightly disbelieving look, and he arched black eyebrow at her, a small smirk playing across his face.

"You don't believe me?" he asked, amused.

"Not entirely, no," she admitted.

"Well, then we'll have to test it," he sighed, patting her hand gently with his as they continued to walk, "Just go back to thinking what you were before and we'll see how it works out, alright?"

"I don't want to think about that anymore," she muttered, scowling at the dew covered ground beneath her feet, "It pisses me off, and I don't want to spend the rest of the day being pissed off."

"If you do not let it out now, it will just fester inside of you," he murmured softly to her, looking down through narrowed silver eyes. "Remember what I said before, Trinity, you don't always have to hide what you're feeling just because you're afraid to show it to others."

"I know," she sighed, frowning now, "But it's not really that I don't anyone else to see it just…I know there's nothing I can really do about it right now, because I promised Cat I wouldn't, and I guess that's what really makes me angry is that she made me agree not to go after Rowan, and _then _she told us what happened. If I'd known before, I wouldn't have made the promise…"

"She is only doing it to protect you and Nicolette," Tertius reminded her softly. "She knew the two of you would be all set to go and make Rowan pay for his crimes, and you two might end up hurt or—unthinkably—dead as a result, and she does not want to see anyone else get hurt because of Rowan. Especially the pair of you. In all the world, both the Mortal Realm and here in Faery, you two mean the most to her, and she would be lost if you ended up vanishing."

"I know," Trinity said again, feeling more guilty than annoyed now, still watching the ground, "I just…I've always been there to take care of them and feel like I can't now…you remember we talked about it last night…"

"I do," he agreed softly, "And do you remember what I told you?"

She thought over it for a moment, going back to the night before, remembering their talk in the courtyard.

"Continue to be there for them," she remembered softly, "Help them move on."

"Because that's what you _can _do," he told her gently, "Even if you feel like there isn't anything else in the world to be done, you can still be there when they need you, and they will. They always have and they always will."

"They won't always need me," she disagreed with a soft sigh, "They might always want me, but they won't always need me."

"I find that hard to believe," he told her, and she glanced up at him to see him smiling his small smile, "In all the decades I have been alive, I have not seen a friendship quite like the one the three of you have. You need each other. For you to say there will come a time when the three of you no longer need each other is really an insult to what your trio has managed to accomplish and carry on for as long as you've known each other."

Trinity blinked up at him, rather amazed to hear him say such a thing, and then quickly looked down as her cheeks burned crimson again.

"Are you embarrassed?" he asked, sounding half amused and half surprised.

"Sometimes I wish you people could lie," she muttered, and he looked stunned, "Because if a human had said that to me, I'd so call them out for lying."

"Well, I assure you, it is no lie," Tertius said, chuckling in amusement. "I believe what I say. You three have a bond, stronger than I think anything else I have ever seen in my lifetime. I cannot say the same for the older faeries, since they have seen and experienced more than I have, but I do not think they can easily say they are unimpressed with the connection you, Nicolette and Catherine have. Especially for humans. The fey often hold the idea that humans have no real bonds to anyone, outside of their birth family, and sometimes not even to those particular people. Because humans lie, the fey do not hold them in high respects, as you know, so to see a relationship as true and genuine as the one the three of you have together is really something miraculous. I am sure even other humans think so. Considering there is money or blackmail holding you together, just your friendship."

"Other humans have friendships like we do," Trinity muttered, still red in the face, though her heart was glowing inside of her.

"No they do not," said Tertius with a small snort. "They may have friendships, yes, but your friendship is also a family bond. You are more than friends, you have made yourselves sisters. Even in the time I have seen the three of you together, I can tell that much. Anyone could. You'd give your lives for each other without even stopping to think about yourself. Otherwise I think Nicolette might have stopped a little earlier in her desire to get at Prince Rowan. She only stopped, in addition to her vow, because she knew that attacking Rowan would bring trouble on the rest of you as well, and she doesn't want that. She could tolerate bringing herself down if it meant Rowan paid his due, but she wouldn't ever wish such pain on the rest of you."

"You make us all sound so noble," mumbled Trinity, glancing up at him through narrowed sapphire eyes.

"You do not think you are?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at her, his small smile back in place. "You were all prepared to storm into Tir Na Nog to rescue Catherine when you thought she was still locked away there. You did not stop to consider the dangers to yourself, only the ones to Catherine."

"You make it sound more heroic than it really is," Trinity insisted, biting nervously on her lower lip, feeling her stomach turning over and over, though not quite from euphoria anymore. "It's because it's Cat. We care what happens to her."

"And that is what makes your relationship with her and Nicolette so miraculous," Tertius said, giving a sigh that sounded very much like exasperation. "You _care_. Fey do not know what it is to have loyalty to their friends outside of the power that binds them together, like the Summer and Winter courts. Even in Iron, though we have loyalty to Meghan and Ash, for more than just their power, it is really only that power and the threat of having it used against us that makes us truly loyal."

"Ash and Meghan mean more to you than just that," Trinity said, turning to look at him, frowning. "I know they do. You're not just scared of their power."

"True," he agreed, "But that is not the point I am making. You have seen the Winter Court. You have seen what they are like. You know full and well that the only thing that ties Rowan to his court is a promise of power, should it ever fall to him to accept the throne, and the threat of having Mab's power used against him if he were to overstep his boundaries. Of course, it would probably take some doing, since he is her son, and she seems to favor her children over the rest of those in her court, but even Mab has limits where her kin is concerned. If Rowan ever truly disgraced her, with no hope of repentance, she would make him regret it, and he knows she would. It is that power that holds the Winter Court together. Without Mab, they would fall into discord and be as bloodthirsty and vengeful a group as the Nevernever would ever see. Which is why they could never understand why you, Nicolette and Catherine have what you do.

"Loyalty is power in itself, but true loyalty, something given of the heart rather than something invoked by fear or awe, is even greater. You have seen Prince Ash and Robin Goodfellow together, though you haven't yet witnessed the kind of power they can harness when they work as one, but it is because they have a loyalty to each other outside of their fear for one another. They respect the other's abilities, but they do not truly fear each other. They regard each other as friends, and that is why, if anyone else in the Nevernever, like Oberon or Mab, discovered the kind of power they have when combined—the power of Summer, Winter, and now even Iron—put together, it would cause an uproar. That kind of magic and power is incomprehensible, just as the magic and energy conjured from the three of you is so unbelievable. And, though it should be a fey's prerogative never to underestimate or disbelieve what they consider impossible, it is also the feys flaw that will inevitably undermine or ignore anything they do not understand. It is what relates us to humans, though some would consider it a very unfortunate trait."

"No kidding," said Trinity with a wry snort, "But…it's still…I guess it's hard to believe what you're saying, even though I know you just said never think anything is impossible when you're in Faery, but we're just three girls, best friends, sisters at heart, and you're saying it like we're some kind of great magical power that could take on the world."

"You very easily could," Tertius told her seriously, "You just do not realize your own potential. The daughter of the Summer General Astrid, the half-blood daughter of the dryads, who are some of the most ancient and wisest beings in all of Faery and the Mortal Realm, not to mention she has a brand of her own power that outdoes even that of the regular dryads, and the half-blood daughter of a Cait Sith, a breed of fey even older than Oberon and Mab. Also, you know by now that a half-blooded child born from a Cait Sith is a rarity in of itself."

"Yeah," murmured Trinity, nodding, "I do…Cat's in a league all her own with that. And Trinity is just…well, she's crazy powerful, since Puck hasn't let anyone forget that tree she grew out of the ground. And I know I'm Astrid's daughter but I don't even really know what that means! I know my dad was supposed to super strong and everyone respected him, almost as much as they respect Oberon and Mab, but that's all I know. I never met him, I didn't know him as a person, and everyone acts like I'm going to take his place when I don't even really know my own powers. I can use my glamour, sure, but I can't grow trees 30 feet straight up like it's nothing, or disappear in the blink of an eye."

"Your power is still sleeping," Tertius soothed her gently, his silver eyes warm as he gazed down at her. "It is not as though it isn't there, Trinity, it is just dormant for now. And I know you wish you could have known your father, but would that have made it any easier to find out who you are if you _had _met him? Would you be any closer to finding out who you might be if you'd seen him?"

Trinity could see his point, and she supposed it really wouldn't have made a difference whether or not she knew Astrid, all things considered. Meeting someone, even a parent, didn't always mean you found yourself. She had lived with her mother for eighteen years, but that didn't mean she knew who she was as a person. She might have had a good idea, but that was because she'd spent the past nineteen, almost twenty, years building up who she was on her own. She'd made herself out of who she had seen herself to be when she was around her friends and her family, not because her mother had dictated to her who she was. She supposed only now, because so much had changed, that she was questioning who she thought she might be. After all, it wasn't everyday you heard you were half fey, _and _the daughter of a Summer General, who had also been the Nevernever's most revered military figure. But when she had to stop and consider all of that, she guessed it wasn't a wonder she felt so lost in herself now. For almost twenty years she had thought she knew who she was, that she was Trinity Daniels, daughter of Melanie Daniels and Drake Daniels, but now she was Trinity Daniels, daughter of the Great General Astrid and Melanie Daniels, heir to the legend left behind by her father. Lady of Oberon's court, and…what else? What else, or who else, was she? She really didn't know…

"I just want to know who I am now," she murmured, leaning into Tertius, grateful for his warmth and his strength as he supported her, tightening her hand around his arm.

"Are you not who you were before?" he asked softly.

"I don't feel like it," she said, frowning.

"So, you are no longer Trinity?" he asked, and she thought he sounded amused.

Tilting her head back to look at him, it was to see tenderness glowing in silver eyes, and that small smile on his face that she was starting to love so much.

"I'm still Trinity," she said, a little bemused.

"Then why not say you are Trinity?" he asked, cocking his head at her, his charcoal bangs falling into his eyes. "Coming here has not changed who you are, only added more to it. You are not the daughter of General Astrid; you are Trinity _and _the daughter of General Astrid."

She frowned. "Well, when you say it like that," she mumbled, and his smile broadened. "Still…I feel like everyone expects me to be someone else now, and I don't know how to be what they want."

"Since when have you cared what other people want you to be?" demanded a voice suddenly.

Startled, Trinity turned her head to see Nikki fixing her with a rather steely look, though she was smiling at the same time. Catherine was beside her now, apparently having fallen back from the head of the group to walk with her friends, and was wearing a similar look of amusement and total exasperation as she fixed Trinity with a hard jade stare.

"Really, Tri," said Nikki, rolling her dark eyes, "When you have given a rat's ass about what the rest of the world wants you to be? The last time someone tried to tell you who to be or what to be, I'm pretty sure you smiled all saint-like and told him that was nice but you didn't particularly give a damn about what he thought, because you knew full and well who and what you wanted to be. So why, all of a sudden, can't you do that to the people at court? Are they really that scary?"

"No," said Trinity, a little indignantly as she faced her friends. "Just…well, things are different!"

"So?" said Catherine, grinning, "Big whoop. My dad's a cat, doesn't mean I'm going to start changing who I've been for the past almost nineteen years because people think I ought to. They say I'm half human, sure, I am, but that doesn't mean I'm _not _Catherine."

"Same here!" said Nikki, nodding approvingly at Cat. "I'm a half dryad, cool, nifty. I can grow trees out of the ground like it's nothing. Doesn't mean I'm _not _Nikki. I'm still Nikki. I'm just Nikki with some pretty awesome new tricks up my sleeve."

"And you, madam," said Cat, narrowing her eyes at Trinity as she pointed firmly at her friend, "You are the daughter of General Astrid, which is really freaking awesome. Your dad was a war hero and all the rest of it, fantastic. But that doesn't mean you are _not _Trinity Daniels. Trinity Daniels, who, I might add, is one of the most kick ass people I know and doesn't take crap from anybody, not even the Summer King."

"Trinity Daniels," Nikki went on, grinning hugely as Trinity turned a violent shade of red, "Who isn't afraid to threaten Robin Goodfellow, the Summer prankster, one of the most renowned and unpredictable faeries in the entire Nevernever."

"And who also is not afraid," Puck inserted then, appearing behind Nikki, "To carry on with a knight of the Iron Kingdom, which is totally and utterly forbidden, but you love him dearly, and to hell with anyone who says you two oughtn't be together."

He winked at Trinity as she gaped at him, throwing his arms around Nikki's shoulders when the dark haired girl gave him an appreciative smile.

"Think you might be just a little tempted to believe me now?" Tertius muttered in her ear, his laughter evident.

"Oh, hush," she muttered back, and felt him tremble in response as he laughed silently.

"Oh, before I forget!" said Puck then, clapping a hand to his forehead and looking back at Trinity. "Just a simple little question. What would Trinity Daniels—the real, honest-to-freaking-goodness Trinity Daniels—do if one Robin Goodfellow went and scared the living hell out of her? Just a hypothetical question."

"I'd kick your ass to the curb, that's what," she told him, narrowing her sapphire eyes at him.

He grinned broadly, his emerald eyes alight with mischief. "Just checking," he sang lightly, and glanced at something over her shoulder.

Without warning, before she could turn around, something had seized her by the sides, causing her to shriek in alarm so loudly that birds scattered from their trees, and a loud whoop sounded in her ear as she wheeled around to see a second Puck dancing away, laughing maniacally, as the first Puck burst into riotous laughter, doubling over to brace himself on his knees as Trinity stared between the two of them, her sapphires huge, trying to catch her breath as she leaned into Tertius, who was supporting her. The Iron Knight was patting her consolingly on the arm, but the broad smirk on his face and the humor glinting in his silver eyes spoke louder than his seemingly comforting actions.


	33. Chapter 33

"Oh, you're both dead," Trinity growled, pushing herself up and rounding on the Puck that had attacked her as he cart wheeled around, laughing. "I don't care which one of you is the real one, you're both going dead!"

She went after the first Puck, who stopped—mid-cartwheel—to flip himself over and take off running around, darting between Glitch and Tertius, who hastily moved aside as Trinity gave chase, and then dove behind his look-alike, who was still laughing as Trinity skidded to a halt just in front of him.

"You're so dead," she snarled at him as he and his twin put up their hands in surrender.

"Come on, Tri," he said, laughing, while his doppelganger crouched behind his knees, "I had to prove a point here. You're still just as much yourself now as you were two months ago before we went on this goose chase, cut me some slack."

"Oh, I'll cut something," she snapped, jabbing a finger at him, her sapphire eyes blazing. "Come to think of it, do faeries even support circumcision?"

"You wouldn't," said Puck, looking aghast while his twin's eyes grew round in terror.

"No, she wouldn't," said Nikki, laughing as she firmly inserted herself between Trinity and the two Pucks, facing her friend with a smile. "Come on, Tri, be nice to the poor little faery. He's a little delusional and hasn't had his medicine yet."

"Medicine," snorted Puck, rolling his eyes, reaching behind him to slam a fist into the head of his twin, causing the look-alike to disappear in a scattering of leaves, "Puh-lease. You say it like I have ADHD or something."

"Sometimes, I think you do," Nikki informed him, casting a humorous smirk over her shoulder at him.

"I do not," he said indignantly, "I am just selectively attentive is all. There is nothing wrong with that."

"Really now?" she asked in disbelief as Trinity finally stepped back, still looking like she'd like to strangle Puck. "What if I told you there was something shiny on the ground. What would you do then?"

"Ha ha, very funny," said Puck, rolling his emerald eyes at her.

"Just be glad she loves you, Goodfellow, or I'd have your ass for what you just did," Trinity threatened him, even as she walked back to where Tertius was standing.

"I know you would, dear," Puck said, blowing her a kiss. "It's what makes you so you."

Trinity snorted as she stepped back up to Tertius, dropping her forehead on the knight's armored chest.

"If we're done," said a voice then, sounding exceptionally bored, and they all turned to see Demon sitting against a large boulder, fixing them with a rather impatient yellow-green stare, "Could we get moving now? We have only moved possibly a one hundredth of a mile in all the time we have been out here already, and we are not even halfway to where we should be."

"Fine, fine," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes again, this time in resignation as he glanced over at the Cait Sith, "Keep your pants on, we're moving."

Demon gave a little snort as he pushed himself off the rock, beginning to lead the way forward again while the rest of the group trailed behind him.

As they started off again, Trinity turned back to Tertius, her hand looped through his arm once more, and felt her heart flutter to find him watching her through half closed silver eyes.

"What?" She asked when a full minute went by of him continuing to stare at her, though she pointedly kept her eyes on the ground.

"Do you feel more assured now?" he asked softly, and she glanced up at him from under ivory lashes. "About who you are? You are still you, after all, as Goodfellow pointed out. And your friends have just made their point, too. No matter what has changed, you are all still who you were when you got here, just with more added into your lives."

Trinity fidgeted a little as they walked, not really saying anything at first. Her mind was just on overload right now with the million things that seemed to be going through it. She guessed she did feel better after her brief pow-wow with Nikki, Cat and Puck, even if Puck had taken it a little past the call of duty by scaring her like that—she would definitely get him back for that, as well as ruining her moment earlier—but she still felt nervous. She could say she knew who she was, and even if she did she wondered if the real problem wasn't with her identity but with everything that was "added in" as Tertius had said. She could say with total certainty that she was and always would be Trinity Daniels, but what exactly did that mean now? The human Trinity Daniels hadn't had glamour or a title or a potential estate to inherit when she came of age, but the half-fey Trinity Daniels did. She might know how to use her glamour right now, but it was mere child's play compared to what everyone in the Court was saying she should be able to do, and she didn't know a thing about her father's estate that he'd left to her. She secretly wondered what would have happened to the estate if she'd never come along at all, considering when they'd gotten to the Nevernever the final season before it was to be handed over to Oberon entirely had almost passed. Her father couldn't have known she would ever find out her true heritage, but he'd left so much for her. Wealth, a name, an army, a place in the Summer Court.

But what was she supposed to do with all of it when she was still a child by fey standards? If she couldn't harness her sleeping power, what was she supposed to do…?

"Stop worrying," Tertius murmured softly, drawing her back from her thoughts as he placed his hand lightly over hers where it rested on his arm.

"I'm not worrying," she said automatically.

"Ah, what a lie," he sighed, giving her an amused look.

"Okay, it was, but I'm not as worried as you might think I am," she mumbled, and he chuckled.

"But you _are _worried," he said.

"You're not?" she asked, disbelieving.

"Not about what you are," he said softly.

"And what are you worried about?" she inquired, hoping to dissuade any further prodding into her own concerns.

Given the look Tertius gave her, he knew what she was up to, but she was glad when he let her get away with it and answered,

"I don't imagine there is a being on this planet who would not be concerned over a crusade into the Briars. It is not the most hospitable of places, and even without finding Lord Wrath first it will be dangerous."

"I already knew that," she said, flashing a wan smile. "Otherwise I probably wouldn't be here."

"You would come knowing the danger, but you wouldn't come if you didn't," Tertius mused, glancing down at her through narrowed silver eyes, "How, exactly, does that measure out, I wonder?"

"Because when you know there's danger, you can prepare for it," she told him wisely.

"Ah, so that is your logic," he said with a small smile of his own.

"I thought it was pretty good logic," she said, a little defensively.

"It is," he agreed, his eyes dancing with laughter at the uncertain look on her face, "I am just always surprised how you think these things through."

"Is that bad?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, her ivory bangs falling across her eyes so she had to shake them back.

"Not at all," he disagreed, "I find it to be a very good thing that you stop to consider things as you do. It prepares you for what might come, and even if you can't always prepare, you at least accept it as it is."

"Not always as it is," she sighed, "Just when I know there's nothing else I can do about it. If I know I can change it somehow, I'll do everything in my power to, because some things should be able to be changed."

"Mm," he murmured, "That is true, in some instances."

Trinity found herself smiling in spite of herself, "Didn't we already have this discussion last night?" she asked, her sapphire eyes glowing as she looked at him.

"I believe we did," he admitted with a low chuckle, "Now that I stop to think about it. So, if we have already discussed this, what should we talk about instead?"

"Well," sighed Trinity, thinking over everything they could possibly talk about, "You want to help me plot my revenge against Puck? He's gotten two strikes already; I'm just waiting for the third."

"That could be entertaining," Tertius mused, his silver eyes roaming to where Puck was skipping along beside Nikki, haggling her about this and that and the other. "Did you have anything particular in mind, aside from possibly tainting his mind with indecent images of the two of us together?"

Trinity giggled. "We could always drown him," she suggested idly, to which Tertius smirked.

"Too easy," he told her in an undertone, "If we really want to make him regret his actions, we should try something a little more devious."

"You sound like you have a plan," she observed, glancing up at him through narrowed blue eyes. "I'm all ears if you're willing to share the plot."

Smirking, Tertius bent his head so his lips were at her, beginning to speak in hushed tones to avoid letting anyone else hear them. Of course, it wasn't as though they went entirely unnoticed, as walking in a group rather constituted that you would, at some point, get eavesdropped or spied on, and as Puck had always prided himself on his skills of observation, it didn't take him long before he noticed the pair of them together, their heads close in discussion, occasionally shooting him a rather devious look. By the end of the next ten minutes of watching them do so, and after a particularly gleeful giggle from Trinity, Puck had decided it best to remain as far away as possible, and as close to Nikki as he could get. The result? He was now walking side by side with Nikki, clutching at her arm like at toddler, and keeping a wary eye on both the Iron Knight and Trinity.

"Do I even want to know?" Nikki asked him at one point as his grip nearly caused her to trip over a barely concealed stone in the turf and he had to hurry to steady her.

"They're scheming," he muttered, narrowing his emerald eyes at Tertius and Trinity, who were no longer muttering amongst themselves, but walking in companionable silence.

Trinity would still glance over at him occasionally, but for the most part now she seemed keen on Tertius.

Glancing over herself, Nikki eyed her friend and Tertius for a moment, then looked down with raised eyebrows at Puck as he continued to latch onto her arm, almost like a frightened toddler, trying to make himself invisible behind her.

"And what do you think they're scheming about?" she asked him, a wry smile making its way onto her lips.

"My death," he said in an ominous voice. "They are coming to reap my soul."

"You have no soul," she snorted.

"Are you saying that because I'm a ginger?" he inquired, cocking an eyebrow at her, though he continued to remain huddled over, crab-walking sideways to remain "hidden".

"That too," she admitted, "But also because you yourself said you didn't have a soul, remember? I thought that came up in your Faery 101 class a couple months ago. Along with never make deals with anyone outside of you, and never go swimming in a lake if you don't know for a fact that there aren't kelpies there."

"You forgot the part where you're also not supposed to eat the yellow snow," he reminded her, and she snorted with laughter.

"Of course," she said, rolling her dark eyes skyward, noticing the misty surroundings seemed to be lightening now. "You know, that's common human knowledge to."

"Yes, but you don't eat because a dog has peed on it," he told her wisely, "We don't eat it because don't know if it's pee or some poor creature's blood or other bodily fluids."

"Lovely thought," she said, grimacing. "So, back to the scheming. They're out to kill you, are they?"

"You know they are," he told her indignantly.

"Not my fault you ruined the moment," she said, idly shrugging her shoulders, "I tried to stop you, but noooo, you don't listen to me. You licked my hand."

"You know you liked it," he teased her, smirking up at her.

"I liked having your saliva all over me?" she asked, barely concealing a note of disgust. "You know, there are certain times I don't mind it, but on my hand is definitely not one of the places it's okay."

"Oh?" Puck asked, his eyebrows shooting up, a glint coming into his emerald eyes. "Then when and where is it okay?"

"Uh-uh," she said, hurriedly pulling her arm out of his grip as she noted the fiendish glow on his face. "I'm not falling for that. No, sir. And don't even try anything, because I will have Trinity and Tertius both make up something even worse to do to you if you do, and Glitch will help, too."

"I will?" Glitch asked idly, having heard as he strode along behind them.

"You know you will, shut up," Nikki snapped at him, and he smirked.

"Now, Nikki," Puck crooned, sauntering towards her as she backed away down the slope, still trying to keep up with the rest of the group, "It's not nice to make idle threats, we have talked about this. And who says I'm going to try something? I just asked a little question."

"You are scheming, just like Tri and Tertius are scheming," she accused him, nearly tripping over a toadstool as she hurried backwards, away from him. "I can see it in your face, you've got that hamster working overtime thinking up things you shouldn't be thinking up."

"I do not have a hamster in my head, thank you very much," he said, frowning at her, "As that would be a form of animal cruelty and I do not support such treacheries. I have a perfectly good brain in my head, and I am not overworking it, I am just inserting new data for it to compute as I consider just what out to be done about your little insinuation."

"I didn't insinuate anything," she denied, glaring at him as he continued to advance on her. "You made it out like I did, but I didn't, so stop thinking that I did, because you're wrong."

"Oh ho, what a lie," he said, smirking broadly at her, "You totally insinuated, beautiful."

"And just what have I insinuated?" she demanded, narrowing her chocolate brown eyes at him, not really aware that, though everyone was still walking forwards, the entire group was now watching their little spectacle with great interest. Or, at least the entire group—minus Demon—was.

"That you wanna hold me," he sang at her, sidling right up to her as she stumbled again, this time over a patch of ferns, "And you wanna love me, and you wanna kiss me…"

"Now he's referencing Miss Congeniality," she muttered under her breath as Puck reached out and took hold of her arm, drawing her to him, "Fantastic."

"I spent a good sixteen years in the human world, I would hope I know my movies by now," he told her, smirking and winking down at her. "And I notice you didn't make any effort to deny my allegations of your insinuation. You totally want to kiss me right now."

"I don't see why I should," she huffed, glowering up at him, "You ruined Tri's moment. I don't think you deserve to be kissed."

"I let them kiss, didn't I?" Puck asked, widening his eyes at her and pouting in very child-like fashion.

"You ruined the afterglow."

"Oh, pah," he snorted, still with wide-eyed, feigned innocence as he leaned his head towards hers.

She ducked her head, avoiding his wandering mouth, and he smirked as he touched a kiss to her forehead.

"No kisses for you," she grumbled, despite feeling her blood begin to heat as he feathered his lips back and forth across her forehead, and down to her cheek.

"Pleeeease," he begged in his best, pathetic voice, and she felt her toes curl as his warm breath tickled her ear. "I promise I'll behave from now on."

"No," she muttered.

He whined pathetically, circling his arms around her waist and nuzzling her cheek, trying to get her to turn her head.

"I said no!" she said, frantically turning her head the other way as his lips wandered over her jaw. "Puck!"

"Uh-oh," said Tertius quietly as he and Trinity glanced over to the sound of the disruption. "I do believe Lady Nicolette might be in some trouble."

"She's got it covered," Trinity said, unconcerned, even as she grinned, watching her friend firmly put a hand against the side of Puck's head, trying to keep him from getting too close. It wasn't working.

"You sound so sure she can deny him," Tertius observed, glancing down at her with a little smile on his face.

"She's doing a pretty good job of it now, wouldn't you say?" she asked, tilting her head to watch as Nikki ducked her head again, hurriedly yanking the collar of her shirt over her mouth, as Puck leaned in a second time. "Besides, if she really wants to deter him, all she has to do is give him a good kick."

"Because she'd do that," said Catherine's amused voice, and Trinity flashed a smile at her other friend as she joined them, also watching Puck struggling and Nikki resisting. "You know she doesn't kick the boys she likes."

"Nah, that was what you did," Trinity said, giving Catherine an amused glance.

Catherine grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "I was in fifth grade, what can I say?" she said, shrugging lamely. "Though if this keeps up, I'm pretty sure Demon's going to have a coronary. This is the third time we've stopped and he's not in the best mood as it is."

The both paused to glance over at the Cait Sith, who was lounging against a nearby oak tree, arms folded over his chest, his yellow-green eyes narrowed and rather annoyed as he watched Puck and Nikki squabble with each other. His fingers drummed slowly against his bicep, and every few seconds he gave a short exhale and his glare intensified.

"If anyone should be annoyed, you would think it would be you," Trinity said, glancing back at Catherine, who shrugged.

"I think he's just worried about me," Catherine admitted in a low voice to her friend, watching Demon out of the corner of her jade eyes, "You know, since everything that happened last night and this morning…I think he's just hoping that the sooner we find Wrath, the sooner we might get an answer as to whether or not we can break off the blood tie between Rowan and I. He wasn't this antsy before he found out, he just wanted to get going, but now…well, when you think about, now there's a whole new reason we need to find Wrath."

"Yeah," murmured Trinity, a deep frown appearing on her face as she scrutinized her friend. "Speaking of your shoulder, how is it?"

Catherine paused for a moment, as though she hadn't really been thinking about her injury until then, and then gave a weary smile as she looked up into her friend's blue eyes.

"It's been better," she said, "But it's not as bad as it was. It's an on and off kind of pain…"

"It shouldn't be there at all," said Trinity darkly, and Catherine smiled sorrowfully.

"I know," she murmured, reaching out a hand to pat her friend's arm, wishing she could better console her, "But it's really nothing now compared to what it was this morning. If you'd seen me this morning, you wouldn't have let me walk out of the castle. Even Demon tried to get me to agree to stay behind. He even thought about having Oberon put me into an enchanted sleep just so I'd stay in Arcadia while you all went to find Wrath."

"He did what?" demanded Trinity, appalled.

"He didn't do anything," Catherine said hurriedly, "He was just _thinking _about it, and can you really blame him, Tri? Nikki went AWOL after I told you guys, and you probably would have, too, if I hadn't made you guys promise me you wouldn't send me back or do anything rash. He's just as worried as you two are, so don't put all the blame on him, alright? He's just looking out for me."

Catherine offered a kind of wan smile as she added, "It's his job, after all."

"Yeah, but still," said Trinity, still very much affronted, "I might have tried to get you to stay behind for your own sake, but I wouldn't have had Oberon put you to sleep."

"Because you knew I'd bring hell on you if you did," Catherine said with a smirk.

"Well, that, too, but also because that's just not how we work things," said Trinity firmly, now looking over at Demon with a rather disapproving look, though the Cait Sith was totally unaware as he continued to watch Nikki and Puck dawdle.

"I don't blame him for anything, or even wanting to tie me down like that, Tri," murmured Catherine, seeing the look her friend was giving Demon. "I probably would have been pissed off as hell if he'd done it, or if any of you had done it, really, but I know he does it because he's trying to keep me safe."

"That's hardly keeping you safe," Trinity murmured, still not convinced. "That's dictating what you should and shouldn't do. You've been waiting to do this since you got here, and he wanted to try and make it so you couldn't?"

"You know that isn't what he was doing," Catherine reprimanded her friend.

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't, but it still annoys me that he thinks he can try and push stuff like that on you," Trinity said, giving her friend a rather desperate look. "Cat, I know he's your self-appointed guardian and everything, but doesn't he get you're not a baby?"

"By his standards I am," Catherine pointed out, smiling slightly. Trinity didn't smile back. "Tri, you would have done the exact same thing if you'd seen me this morning."

"You say it like this morning was worse than when we got through the trod," Trinity said, frowning now, looking a little more concerned than annoyed.

"Because it was," Catherine sighed, feeling she would probably regret bringing this up, but best to get it out of the way now.

"How bad is bad?" Trinity asked her uncertainly, narrowing cerulean eyes at her friend.

"Really bad," Catherine confessed, "Not able to move type bad. Physically not able to stand up and walk or do anything but lay there bad."

Trinity stared. "That's bad," she said.

Catherine nodded.

"Okay, I can sympathize a little more with his wishes now. This is suicidal."

Ah, Trinity, thought Catherine, smiling resignedly as her friend gave her a look that made her think of a similar expression Demon had been wearing much earlier in the day when he'd been trying to get her to agree to stay behind. She thought about telling Trinity that, but she figured it was best to let that one go. Trinity might be a bit more willing to understand Demon, but telling the girl she looked just like the Cait Sith had earlier could be pushing the envelope more than it needed to be.

"Suicidal was kind of part of the deal, you know," she told her ivory haired friend, "We knew that before we even got started, Tri. I'm not about to turn back now because something Rowan did is working to keep me from doing what I've already planned to do since the day I got into Faery. That would just be surrendering."

"And you don't surrender," sighed Trinity wearily. "I keep forgetting. You're the _Little Engine that Could_, even when she's handicapped."

"Glad you remembered," Catherine told her with a small giggle.

"You'd never let me forget," Trinity said, rolling her eyes.

"OW!"

The sudden exclamation had them turning in alarm, eyes wide. While they'd apparently been distracted, Nikki had finally resorted to desperate measures, whatever they had been, and now stood over Puck as the fey lay sprawled on his back, hands over his mouth, moaning in pain.

"Jesus!" he groaned, rolling back and forth on the ground, eyes tearing as he looked up at Nikki, and she looked down, eyes narrowed. "Woman! That was my _lip_! You bit my _lip_!"

"That was for licking my hand!" Nikki told him, her cheeks a vibrant shade of red as she glared down at him.

"Owwww!" groaned Puck, rolling right over onto his stomach, still clutching his face. "Man, I'm going to have a fat lip, if it isn't bleeding yet…!"

"Oh, don't be so overdramatic, Goodfellow," Glitch was laughing, the only one out of the whole group to apparently find hilarity at the situation. "You totally had that coming!"

"You shut up!" snapped Puck, lifting his head from his hands to fix a green glare on the Iron Knight.

Trinity felt herself snort to see the large red mark on his bottom lip, clear evidence that Nikki had, indeed, resorted to force and bitten him.

"Nice kisser you've got there," Glitch observed, barely keeping from doubling over laughing at this point, "Just gorgeous, nice red welt and everything."

"Fuck you!" snapped Puck, frowning as he touched his lower lip, feeling the damage.

"He wouldn't have anything to laugh at if you'd cooperated in the first place," Nikki told him sweetly. "I told you you weren't getting any kisses from me because you interrupted Tri's moment!"

"That's her motivation?" asked Trinity, slightly astounded. "He ruined my moment so she bit him?"

Catherine shrugged, smiling tiredly over at her dark haired friend while Puck continued to moan and roll around the ground. One would think he was dying given all the ruckus he was making.

"My lip," the faery was wailing, clutching at it once more as he sprawled on his back, "You bit it! It _hurts_!"

"Something else will hurt in a minute if you do not get up and start walking," Demon sighed then, rolling his yellow-green eyes from his place by the trees, utterly exasperated. "At this rate, it _will _take six months just to get to the Briars at the rate you all are going."

"Have you no sympathy for a wounded man?" demanded Puck from the ground.

"For a wounded man, yes, for a wounded fool, no," said Demon curtly in response, "Now get up and move before I leave you all behind."

"You're not leaving me behind," said Catherine, staring at the Cait Sith in disbelief, "We already had this discussion and what would happen if you even tried!"

"Then start walking," he told her, pushing off the tree and beginning to stride away, muttering incoherently under his breath.

"Such a happy kitty," said Puck snidely from the ground, glaring after Demon's retreating figure, still prodding at his sore, injured lip. At least it wasn't bleeding he thought, grimacing as it throbbed under his touch.

"He'd be happier if we moved, you know," Nikki told him with a sigh, moving to stand over him and offering her hand.

He eyed it uncertainly for a moment, then took it and allowed her to pull him to his feet, frowning at her.

"That really hurt," he told her sullenly, pouting as though to better show off the damage she had inflicted. "You could have at least flicked my nose or something."

"Then you'd be complaining of a nosebleed," she told him, smirking at him as she took his hand and tugged him forward, "And I'm sorry it hurts, but you really had it coming. I told you no kisses."

"Yes, but I didn't think you really meant it," he whined, twining his fingers with hers and giving her a reproachful look.

"I don't say what I don't mean, sir, kissing or not kissing included," she informed him smartly. "Remember that from now on and we won't have any problems. Alright?"

"Fine," he grumbled, sticking his tongue out at her, wincing as the action caused his lip to throb again. "Man, that really hurts…I need some ice for this thing. Too bad Ash isn't here or I'd have give me a freaking ice pack for this."

"Because he'd help you after that," Nikki joked, and Puck narrowed his emerald eyes.

"He would," he said, turning his nose up. "He cares what happens to me."

"Not when you had it coming from a mile off," she told him.

"Less talk, more walk!" Demon snapped from ahead of them.

"We're walking!" Puck shot back at him, glaring.

Nikki giggled. "He's just in a hurry."

"I don't care if he's got a hair ball stuck in his throat," Puck told her severely, "He's grouchy as all hell. And we _are _walking. It shouldn't matter what we do in the process of walking so long as we are, in fact, moving our legs, one foot in front of the other, in that celebrated walking motion."

Nikki rolled her eyes and didn't respond, merely walking along with him, hand-in-hand, occasionally smirking as she glanced up at him to see him rubbing with his other hand at his now swollen lip. For the rest of the time they walked that day, minus the brief and intermittent skirmishes that continued to cough up between Puck and whoever else in the group—sometimes Nikki but mostly Glitch now—they walked in a decent amount of silence. Catherine walked along beside Demon, only occasionally asking him just how much farther, and he was patient enough to put up with her continued inquiries, as she at least managed to keep them down to every couple of hours rather than every second. Trinity and Tertius continued to walk arm-in-arm, speaking quietly amongst themselves, and sometimes just wandering in silence with the group. Tertius would often watch Trinity as they walked, but she never seemed to notice, and if she did, he merely smiled and kissed the top of her head. Puck strode along with Nikki, swinging their interlinked hands back and forth whenever he got overly bored, only pausing a couple of times when he and Glitch managed to get into whatever heated argument they decided to indulge in along the way. And Glitch, for the most part, lingered at the back of the group, keeping watch.

Though nothing in the misty forest really went out of its way to make trouble, he still kept a wary eye on their surroundings, having once glimpsed a rather large animal walking along in the shadows nearby, though as the surrounding area grew lighter and lighter with every quarter mile they walked further out of the fog stifled woods he was at least grateful that fewer and fewer fey decided to watch them, or follow them. Though a particularly persistent shadow trailed them almost indefinitely until Glitch called them all to a halt and went after it, much to the girls' disbelief and nervousness, only to return without being able to catch up to the thing as it had fled. Whatever it was, it didn't come back, and they continued their march as usual.

Demon led the way, having noticed sometime during the point when Puck and Nikki had taken the head of the group that they always had to stop and Puck would turn and demand to know if they were still going in the right direction. It had eventually gotten to the point where the Cait Sith merely stepped ahead of the couple without saying a word and continued walking, leaving them to follow him, though Puck seemed a little disgruntled at having to give up the lead of the pack. And Demon never slowed, even when he needed to recheck his directions, and merely progressed onward, only looking back at the group if Catherine happened to fall back for whatever reason, usually to speak with either Trinity or Nikki, but on the rare occasion it had been her shoulder acting up again, causing her to slow moderately, and Demon—though he seemed ready to call the group to a standstill—kept onward whenever she smiled and waved him on, telling him it wasn't so bad and she'd be fine, just not to go sprinting or they'd leave her in the dust.

Several times, though, her shoulder flared with such intensity that she couldn't help but stop dead in her tracks, sometimes failing to stifle a gasp of pain as her hand flew to the wounds on her shoulders, and even once she found herself leaning against a tree, black spots winking in front of her vision. Each time these more violent episodes happened, Nikki and Trinity both would stop at once and come rushing over to her, demanding to know if she was alright, and she always gave the same answer, "It could be worse."

Nikki didn't particularly like this answer at all, because she felt it totally avoided her question, but she couldn't really help the issue, and so she stood at Catherine's side as the girl recovered, gently smoothing a hand over her friend's copper colored hair, holding her hand. And Trinity did the same, though she was carefully not to touch Catherine's shoulder, though she rubbed both hands over her friend's arm as though hoping it might abate the pain. It continued like that for the entire rest of the day, though it was harder to tell the time around them than normal as the mist they traveled through made it rather difficult to differentiate when the sun was setting as opposed to when the clouds and mist merely overcast it to the point that they almost seemed to be walking in perpetual twilight. Mainly, they relied on Demon to keep them on track, though no one really thought the Cait Sith enjoyed having to be responsible for so many of them. Catherine he didn't mind taking care of at all, that was his job, as Catherine kept reminding Puck whenever the Summer faery got a little disgruntled that Demon didn't quite give him the same patient treatment that he gave her, but even a cat's eternal patience could be tested.

During one of the times that Puck had decided to question Demon on both their direction and the time of day the Cait Sith had not even answered, but simply turned a rather venomous glare onto the Summer faery, though he never once missed a step as he continued walking, and when Puck muttered a brief "never mind" under his breath Demon turned away with a small snort.

Nikki had consoled Puck, who had been understandably miffed at the whole thing, and Catherine had approached Demon to quietly ask what time he thought it was. Of course, when the Cait Sith had responded to her, estimating it was probably sometime around one o'clock if they wanted to be technical, Puck had been hard put not to say anything crass about it, and Catherine had given him an apologetic look over her shoulder as she relayed the information to them. Needless to say, though they didn't have any more interruptions as far as stopping halfway across a field went, there was definite tension in the air for the rest of the day's travels.

But it wasn't until later that evening, or so Demon said it was evening, that Catherine really started to feel that something was off, and not even with the group. Every so often, when she was rolling out her shoulders to keep them under minimal strain from carrying her pack all day, she would also look around out of habit, just for something to look at other than Demon's back as they walked. During one of these times, she saw a shadowy figure standing relatively close to the group—close being less than thirty feet away—though she never got more than a glimpse of the figure, since the moment she would notice it was there it would blink out of sight as easily as though it had not been there. But it kept coming back, and she kept seeing it, and she knew it was the same figure as before, because it had the same tall, willowy build, but she never got a closer look than that, and could only make out the silhouette of it, and nothing else.

At first, when she noticed it, she just convinced herself she was seeing things, since the mist often played tricks on their eyes, and she hadn't been the only one to see something that wasn't there—Glitch had been proof of that with his little adventure into the mist going after invisible creatures. But as the sightings of it kept increasing, sometimes when she hadn't even bothered to roll her shoulders, but simply looked around out of interest, it was there again, almost exactly in a similar position as before in relation to the position of the group, but the moment she laid eyes on it—even if she didn't blink—it would vanish a split second later. One time when she spotted it, and deliberately kept herself from blinking just to see what would happen, the figure actually slid behind a tree, out of sight, and didn't reappear, though she kept an eye trained on its hiding place long after it had vanished, and even Demon had had to call on her to get moving, as she had stood still to watch. After about the twentieth time of seeing the shape, however, she was convinced it was very much real, and something was indeed following them.

"Demon," she murmured, having spotted the shadow yet again as she'd paused to give her feet just the briefest of rests.

"Hm?" The Cait Sith didn't turn to look at her as he walked, but he inclined his head to listen.

"I think something is following us," she confided in a low murmur, which immediately had his full attention.

He didn't pause or slow his pace, and she guessed he avoided doing so as it would tip off whatever might be trailing them, but he did a careful sweep with his eyes, though she knew it would be no good at the moment for no sooner had she spotted the shadow than it had gone, and she knew it wouldn't appear again until she had thoroughly distracted herself from it. But Demon didn't seem ready to take anything for granted, and narrowed his yellow-green eyes as he scanned the surrounding tree line. The mist around them had somewhat dissolved as they continued farther and farther out of it, but it was still enough of a hassle to limit his normally impeccable sight to a little under 15 yards in any given direction, and he frowned as he failed to locate anything near to them, or even sense it lurking nearby.

"Are you sure?" he asked her quietly, now slowing his pace to walk alongside her, and she nodded.

"I keep seeing it," she murmured, frowning up at him when he glanced down. "It keeps disappearing the second I see it, though, and I can't figure out what it is. Just that's it's there, and it's tall and it's been following us for almost an hour."

Demon's frown deepened, and his silver eyebrows slanted down in a severe line, and he did another quick search around them, this time getting Puck's attention as the faery ambled very close to them.

"What's up?" he asked, cocking his head at Demon as the Cait Sith slowly turned his head in the other direction, scanning the opposite line of trees.

"Catherine says something is following us," Demon reported quietly, and Puck instantly tensed, his emerald eyes flickering left and right, "But I can't sense anything. I can't see anything either, but sight isn't a particularly reliable source of information. Can you tell if there is anything near to us?"

"No," admitted Puck after he took a moment to discreetly look around them as well. "But it doesn't mean it's not there."

Catherine noticed he took a step closer to Nikki, his arm circling protectively around her waist as they walked, his vibrant green eyes still searching.

Demon nodded his agreement of Puck's words, then turned to lock gazes with Tertius and Glitch as the two Iron Knights also closed in, Tertius pulling Trinity with him as they closed up ranks. Catherine wondered if it was really a good idea to get so close together and let whatever was following them know it had been detected, because that could easily trigger it into thinking it had them cornered and attack them, but she also suspected it was better to stay close now, unless they wanted to end up separated by whatever decided to be brazen enough to trail them.

"How far off are you seeing it, Catherine, and in what direction?" Demon asked her, surprising her as he reached out his hand to shackle her wrist, pulling her to his side.

"About ten yards," she murmured, glancing around again and feeling her stomach lurch as she saw the shadow again, just off in the trees to their left, just at the same distance, watching. But, just as she had known it would, it blinked out of sight the minute she saw it. "It was just there, I swear, Demon."

"I believe you," he murmured under his breath, his eyes fixing on the spot where the figure had just been, as though he knew exactly where it had been lurking.

"Is it really a danger, though?" Nikki asked softly from her place beside Puck, her dark eyes nervous and uncertain. "If it's been there for an hour but hasn't come after us, is it really so dangerous?"

"Never take anything for granted, Nik, that's all I can tell you right now," Puck warned her quietly, "Or you're liable to end up dead. The wyldwood isn't known for its hospitality, and anything that's been following us that long, whether it's had the guts to show itself or not, is not something we need to be taking lightly. Just stay close…"

Nikki didn't at all like the way he sounded as he spoke, tense and almost nervous, but she didn't remark on it and instead moved closer into his embrace, now wary as she, too, scanned the surrounding forest. She knew she couldn't hope to see anything, and that was really precisely what she saw. Nothing. Just blank mistiness, and endless trees, but where before the entire scene had been somewhat dull and almost drowsy she now felt a little tenser, and the tall, looming shapes of the trees seemed almost menacing where before they had just been monotonous.

Trinity was also thinking similarly as she lingered closer to Tertius's side, though she wasn't quite permitting him the same kind of closure Puck was forcing on Nikki, and instead held his hand a little more tightly in hers. Her eyes also flickered around, alert, looking for any trace of something that oughtn't be there, but, like Nikki, uncovering nothing more than misty shapes of trees and shrubs as they continued to move forward. Every so often, she thought she would see the shape that Catherine had alerted them to, but the more she looked, the less she saw, until she almost wondered if maybe her friend had just been tricked by the mist and the little amount of light coming in through the branches above them. But then she remembered that Demon had said just because they couldn't see it did not mean it wasn't there, and she should know better than to judge things based only on what she could see. She'd lived nineteen years without seeing fey, but they were sure as hell real.

"I don't see anything," Demon was murmuring to Catherine, his eyes still flickering all around, "But I do believe you. For now, though, we will continue walking as we were, but if you see it again, let me know."

"It always shows up again," she murmured back, unable to help the little quaver of fear in her voice, "It just vanishes the second after I see it, even if I'm not blinking."

"Then be sure to inform me," he told her quietly. "Whatever or whoever it is, if it has been trailing us this long, it is safe to assume it has an interest in us. Whether good or bad is as of yet uncertain. Just stay close…"

No problem there, she thought wryly, he still had her wrist in quite the grip, and she wasn't keen on putting distance between them to begin with. Not with whatever was out there still hovering like a shadowy, six-foot vulture. She might at least feel a little better about the thing if she knew what it _was _but it didn't seem too intent on revealing it's true nature so far, and she doubted it would anytime soon. She just hoped that it either eventually lost interest in them, or that it was unable to follow them once they got to the trod they were looking for, but since that was still quite a ways off, she was hoping for the first likelihood. The real problem, though, identities and intentions of the shadow aside, was how she seemed to be the only one so far that had seen it, though now with everyone on high alert maybe they ran a better chance of seeing it, too.

She didn't really understand why, but she had this lurking feeling in the back of her mind that the shadow, whoever or whatever it might be, was distinctly pinpointing her as a target, and she didn't like that at all. But she wasn't about to tell Demon that. Not only did it sound overly paranoid, it really sounded conceited. What would a mysterious figure want with her? She was just a half-breed cat, or she at least preferred to think that way considering the current situation. Really, what would a stalking figure want with her when there were other potential targets around her. Robin Goodfellow, a famous, ancient faery who probably had a good deal of people out to get him, despite how utterly suicidal the venture would be if they came after him. Then there was Trinity, and though Cat didn't like to think the shadow was after her friend, she had to be realistic. Trinity was the daughter of the Summer General Astrid. She probably had just as good a bounty on her head as Puck's for certain interested parties. Then there was Tertius and Glitch. Two Iron Fey who probably shouldn't even be in the wyldwood to begin with, though there were no exact rules that forbid them from entering so long as they didn't wage battle against the natural inhabitants of the woods. Demon wasn't particularly target-worthy, but Catherine wouldn't put it past some groups—though she wouldn't name names—who would be more than happy to get their hands on the Cait Sith if they knew he had helped her, or just to make his life difficult considering the position he was currently in; trapped in human form.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move, and, being as jumpy as she was, she immediately turned her head around to stare at it, and felt her heart lodge in her throat to see it was the shadow again. It was closer this time. Standing not even fifteen feet away, in the very fringe of the nearby trees they were passing, watching her with luminous green eyes.

"Demon," she whispered, her heart beginning to thud rapidly in her chest as the shadow failed to blink out of sight this time, continuing to watch her through the mist.

Demon heard the warning in her voice, and immediately turned his head to follow the direction of hers, but by the time he'd looked around the shadow had blinked its green eyes and disappeared again, as though it had never been.

"I swear," she began, turning to stare imploringly up at Demon, but he put a finger to her lips, still gazing through narrowed eyes at the trees.

"I believe you," he murmured again, "So please stop making me repeat myself. I saw a flicker that time…it was closer…"

She nodded her head, jade eyes wide and fearful.

"Should we go after it?" asked Glitch quietly from their right, his violet eyes also fixed on where the shape had previously been. "If it's getting closer that could be really bad news…"

"There's no point chasing it if it can immediately vanish like that," Demon replied quietly to the knight, shaking his head, "Only Cait Sith have ever been able to move that quickly, but I would sense my own kin regardless of whether they wanted me to or not. That is no Cait Sith…"

"That makes it even worse," muttered Puck, looking more wary than ever before as he scanned the trees behind them, watching their backs. "If it isn't your lovely little family come for a reunion, what the hell can blink out like that without the rest of us even being able to see it? And, no offense, Cat, but why is she the only one to have really seen it?"

"That is what concerns me the most," Demon admitted in a low voice, and Catherine felt her heart thud into her ribs as he dragged her suddenly under his arm, nearly crushing her to his side.

Glancing up at him, she was startled to see the unusually hard set of his face, and the wariness glinting in his eyes as he continued to watch the trees. Catherine felt her face heating up as she continued to be pressed into him, intensely aware of his body heat and the very muscular set of his body. She mentally slapped herself, feeling her face turn even redder, glad at least that Demon as too busy scanning the area to notice. She really needed to focus on the problem. She had much better things to be worried about than Demon's physical appeal.

_He's a cat_, she reminded herself firmly, deliberately looking around for the shadow, though her mind was not at all focused on it now. He _is a cat, and that is the end of it. He's just stuck in this body…_

Her self-conviction sucked, but she had to deal with it for now. And she really did need to focus on anything other than Demon's arm around her, and just the kind of things it was doing to her heart rate. The shadow, she needed to focus on the shadow, the creepy stalker shadow that kept popping up, that only she had really been able to see, with green eyes. She paused, mid-thought, as she recalled those green eyes that had watched her from the shadows, and a little jingle of familiarity went off in her head. She'd seen those eyes before, she realized, now intently looking around, trying to catch sight of the shadow again, half hoping it would appear just so she could get another glimpse at its eyes. She knew she had seen them before, but she couldn't for the life of her remember where. They were emerald, kind of luck Puck's, but they had a sort of…frosty quality about them…like they'd been carved from green ice instead of raw emerald gems…

_Ice_…She felt her breath catch in her throat, and her mind screeched to a halt, freezing on a singular thought, a solitary image. Sage had those eyes…Those were Sage's eyes; down to a tee…It had been tall and willowy, like Sage… No, she thought, shaking the thought clean out of her head. No way. There was no way Sage would be here, in the middle of the wyldwood, let alone following her little band of merry men like this… There was just no way it could be Sage. She had to be hallucinating. She'd just imagined it was Sage because…well…she didn't want to think about the 'because' of why she'd envisioned the eyes of the Winter Prince. Right now, that was just not a good idea.

Still, it could _not _be the Winter Prince. She refused to believe it. That would just test every single boundary of believability, and though she knew it was more than hypocritical to say she didn't believe something totally impossible here in the middle of the land of impossibilities being reality, she was pretty sure even Demon and the others—if she were brazen enough to suggest it aloud—would have to question the believability of having Crown Prince Sage out here, let alone following them around like a living shadow. But she wasn't going to tell them what she'd thought… It was not only inviting trouble, it was stupid to say it, especially since she had just reached the conclusion that she had _not, _in fact, seen Sage. She had only thought she had. And not even that, really. She'd just seen a pair of eyes that looked remarkably like his, nothing more.

When she stopped to consider it, though, it could easily be something masquerading as the sidhe Prince, just to get under her skin and freak her out. And, if that was their goal, she could say mission well accomplished on that. She had never been more freaked out except perhaps given a previous encounter almost twenty-four hours ago, but that had been a whole other level of freaked out. This was a level of its own, but she did have a thought now. There were more than enough fey in the Nevernever with shape shifting abilities, that much she knew. Wil-o'-the-wisps had some of the best shape shifting capabilities around, second only to phoukas, as she had seen in Winter, but where phoukas could easily shape shift into other creatures, generally animals, Wil-o'-the-wisps could take the form of people, including a Crown Prince of Winter. And it was said they knew a person's innermost desires, even without having ever encountered the person before.

She thought then about bringing up her theory with Demon, but then hesitated at the last second as she glanced up into the Cait Sith's darkened face as he continued to scour the trees around them. How did she let him in on the idea that a wisp was the culprit without bringing up Sage? She'd have to mention she'd seen a pair of eyes, and to say the eyes had made her think of Sage's, and then relay all of her thought processes up until the point that she concluded it was a wisp creating all the tension in the air, and she'd really rather avoid that. It was bad enough that Demon already knew-slash-suspected that something was up between her and the Prince, and she really didn't want to clue him in any further. She would also have to confess to the theory in front of Trinity and Nikki, and she was still far from ready to bring them into the loop on her feelings about Sage.

It was hard enough admitting them to herself, and she'd been steadily working on it for nearly a month. So…how did she bring it up to Demon…?

"Um, Demon," she began hesitantly, barely above a whisper.

He glanced down at her, yellow-green eyes narrowed, and attentive.

"I just had a thought," she said meekly, feeling more and more foolish as she felt her cheeks reddening as he scrutinized her, not to mention she was stammering… "Wil-o'-the-wisps like to play tricks, don't they?"

Demon's eyes flickered momentarily, and she hoped he'd gotten the gist of what she was hinting at, and given the way he immediately went back to looking around them gave her hope that he had. But then her other hopes were immediately crushed when he murmured,

"If it were a wisp, we would have been able to sense it, or see it better. There would be firelight. Wisps give off light by themselves, and carry a candle if they've shifted."

Well, there went that theory, she thought, her shoulders slumping in defeat. So, if it wasn't a wisp prancing around pretending to be Sage, why had she seen those eyes? They were _exactly _like Sage's! And she hadn't seen anyone else in the entire Nevernever yet to have his eyes, not to mention his build kind of made him singularly noticeable, and that had definitely been his silhouette, that much she was one hundred percent certain of. So, what did she want to try and guess at next? A phouka with unnaturally good human shape shifting skills? Perhaps a satyr throwing off a bit of glamour in the hopes of getting lucky? No, that would have been obvious. There would be tangible glamour in the air to give away that another fey was nearby, and she didn't sense it. She knew that didn't account for much, since she wasn't exactly honed in the art of glamour detection, but if Demon and Puck and Tertius and Glitch were still acting like some great beast might come lunging out at them without the faintest idea where it was, she suspected they couldn't feel glamour either, or they wouldn't be so on edge.

"Stop," Demon hissed suddenly, and they all froze as one.

Catherine tensed up against Demon, feeling his arm constrict around her, and she sensed that something had just caught his attention. He was staring ahead of them, towards a particularly dense patch of trees, and his yellow-green eyes were narrowed almost to slits as he tried to decipher whatever he was seeing through the mist.

"What is it?" Puck murmured, so quietly almost no one heard him.

"I'm not sure," Demon admitted, still eyeing the misty trees ahead of them, his expression cautious, "It isn't moving, but I know it's alive…"

"It's in front of us?" Catherine asked, feeling her voice tremble slightly as she tried without much success to see what the Cait Sith was. All she could make out was the writhing mist around them, and the vague outlines of the trees. Nothing else.

"Yes," he murmured, nodding his head very slowly, his hand tightening around her wrist as he subtly pushed her behind him.

"We could go scout ahead," Tertius offered quietly, to which Trinity looked horrified. "Glitch and I…if there is anything there, we should be able to manage it."

"And what if it's a wyvern?" Trinity hissed at him, latching onto his arm when he would have moved forward.

"It's not big enough to be a wyvern," Demon murmured over his shoulder, sounding a tad exasperated despite the tenseness of the moment. "It's relatively small…only around five feet…but it's broad…"

"He can see that much and he doesn't know what it is?" Puck muttered, almost to himself, his eyebrows shooting up at Demon, who ignored him. "Maybe we can play Shadow Shapes with it. Just get it to turn us its profile and we can start guessing at will. Loser gets eaten."

"You are not helping," Nikki chastised him under her breath.

"Let us scout," Glitch insisted, stepping forward so he was beside Demon, his violet eyes locking on the same spot as the Cait Sith, though he also couldn't quite make out what the feline saw. "Unless it's something Iron—and there's a really unlikely chance it is—we can handle it."

Demon seemed to consider for a moment, then slowly nodded his head, never once taking his eyes off of whatever he was seeing. Glitch turned to motion to Tertius, who carefully detached Trinity's arms from around his waist, giving her a small, reassuring and apologetic smile as he moved away, despite her desperate head shakes and frantic whispers, and, drawing his sword, stepped forward with Glitch, setting off towards the trees ahead of them.


	34. Chapter 34

Trinity hung back, but only just barely, feeling her heart thundering a mile a minute as she watched her Iron knight creeping away into the near impenetrable mist, Glitch at his side. She knew she should trust him more to handle himself, but without being able to physically see just what he was going up against she was a little more than nervous for his safety, and who could blame her? If Tertius got injured in some way, she was putting it on Demon's head.

The Cait Sith, in the meantime, had his eyes diligently trained on the shape ahead of them, which had shifted subtly as Glitch and Tertius had begun their slow progress towards it, but otherwise did not give any indication that it had intentions of leaving. Demon really didn't like being hindered in seeing just what the creature was, but he knew that if it were really anything to be afraid of, or anything to keep the Iron knights from pursuing, he was sure he would know it by now. That aside, he didn't quite believe that what they were on the verge of approaching was the same figure Catherine had seen earlier. The shadowy follower might have switched positions on them earlier when it had moved closer, but he didn't see why now, all of a sudden, it would choose to deliberately block the forward progress. Also, he had at least glimpsed that the shadow from earlier was a good foot taller than whatever was ahead of them, and not nearly as wide across.

He only hoped that the shadow and the creature ahead of them were in league with each other, otherwise they might very well be walking into a trap, though who or what would have bothered to set up such an elaborate trap for a group of travelers like them was a bit questionable, and he didn't think any regular forest folk would have the ability to tune down their glamour to the point he couldn't sense it, like the tall shadow had been able to. And now, at least, watching Tertius's and Glitch's figures moving through the mist—mere shadows now—he could sense the faintest traces of glamour, which made him a little more relaxed, but not enough to trust whatever was barring them from passing. Normally, he'd have just gone around the obstruction, but with the taller shadow lurking wherever nearby to them, he didn't quite trust an alternate route to be the best solution at this point.

"AH-HA!"

The cry rang out suddenly, effectively shattering the tense, nerve wracking silence around them, though it definitely sent Nikki's nerves jangling as she suffered a minor heart attack and latched onto Puck's arm with a squeak of alarm. Catherine and Trinity jumped, too, and even Puck got a bit wide eyed, but Demon merely blinked.

"What is it?" he called, having recognized the shout as Glitch's.

"I'm…not sure!" the Iron faery called back, sounding bewildered, and Puck gave a snort of derision. "But it's scared all to hell right now just from seeing Tertius and I."

Demon looked confused now, and, after glancing back at the remaining four clustered around him, let his arm fall from around Catherine and strode forward through the mist towards where the figures of Tertius and Glitch were just visible, standing over the other shape that no one else could still really make out. Catherine looked after Demon, frowning uncertainly, then glanced back at Trinity and Nikki, who both managed identical shrugs of confusion. Even Puck looked nonplussed as he scrutinized Demon as the Cait Sith continued forward without them.

"Should we go see what it is?" Trinity mouthed, and Catherine shrugged in answer.

How could she be sure? Demon might realize it was something totally monstrous and have them running for the hills once he saw…whatever it was, but at the same time it could be totally harmless, and sounded like it was, given what Glitch had just said.

"Let's go see," Nikki suggested quietly, stepping forward with Puck at her side, and gently nudging Catherine's arm.

Catherine glanced over at her friend, and wasn't surprised to see a glimmer of eagerness in her dark brown eyes. Nikki was as curious as curious could get, even with the potential dangers lurking around, and though she knew enough to be careful, she wasn't about to miss whatever this was. Smiling wanly at her friend, Catherine bobbed her head in agreement, and allowed Nikki to take the lead while she, Trinity and Puck followed steadily behind her, trailing Demon.

"I don't know how I feel about this," Puck sighed quietly as he walked along directly behind Nikki, his hands shoved into the pockets of his forest green cargo pants, his emerald eyes wary. "Maybe it's a giant grizzly just playing pansy."

"Shit," muttered Demon from ahead of them, having come to a stop where Tertius and Glitch were standing, now staring down at the thing in front of him, even though the top of it did, in fact, reach close on five feet.

"Does that mean it's worse?" asked Puck, a hand shooting out to grab the back of Nikki's shirt before she could take one more step closer. "Because if it's worse, I'm gone. I've dealt with all kinds of mess today, not to mention my lip still hurts, we've got a shadowy thingamabobber following us around like something right out of _The Watcher_, and if I have to hear that whatever you're standing over is worse than that, I'm just done."

"Everyone else stay back," Demon warned, not directly answering Puck's question, but giving enough of a hint that immediately Puck had Nikki, Catherine _and _Trinity by the backs of their shirts or their arms and was yanking them clear away from where Demon, Tertius and Glitch stood.

"What is it?!" Puck called, pushing all three girls behind him and drawing his daggers.

"A Dip," Demon answered, and Puck hissed quietly, eyes widening.

"A what?" Trinity asked, quite sure she'd misheard what Demon had said.

"A Dip," Puck said fervently, "Big ass black shaggy dog."

"I thought that was a Grim," said Nikki, bemused.

"Glad as I am that you know some of your folklore, Dips are not quite the same as Grims, and Grims are much bigger than Dips," Puck informed her, still with his daggers out, now holding them up. "Grims guard graveyards; they'll only tear you apart if you come to desecrate the tombs of the deceased. Dips are entirely different."

"How so, since you seem all ready to protect us?" inquired Nikki, eyeing his glass-bladed daggers with a kind of wary uncertainty. "Dips attack you in general?"

"That, too, and their diet is a little less…substantial," Puck said, grimacing. "They drink blood. Specifically human blood, but they'll drink fey blood, too."

"And Tertius and Glitch and Demon are still there with it because…?" Trinity demanded, her sapphire eyes enormous with fear.

"Because it's lame in two legs," Demon reported, which, to Trinity, made no real sense, other than it meant the thing was wounded. But that didn't stand for much. Even a wounded fey was still a dangerous fey.

"That's unusual," muttered Puck before anyone could question the importance of a lame, blood-sucking dog. "Normally they're only lame in one leg. Eh, better for us if it's two, I suppose."

"Why are they lame in one leg?" asked Nikki, even more bewildered than before, though she also felt slightly reassured knowing that the dog couldn't quite make as easy a time of getting at them.

"Just born that way," said Puck, shrugging, "No one really knows why. Some people think it's to give humans a fighting chance, though that's usually a dud. Three legs or four, they can still outrun a human. But two legs, that's different. I'll be surprised if it can walk."

"It can't," said Glitch, appearing then from the mist, so suddenly that it startled them. "It's lying down in a depression there and can't get out of it."

"Why does that sound so familiar?" Puck mused to himself, carefully sheathing his daggers. "Really, it does…I want to say something like, "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!""

"You a spokesperson for Life Alert now?" Nikki asked with a small grin.

"Hey, I could be," he said, winking back at her, his emerald eyes glowing.

"It looks like a hunter or other fey got to it," Tertius sighed, also appearing beside Glitch, looking over his shoulder to where Demon was still hovering over the Dip, though no one else could quite make out the shape of the fey hound, wherever it was lying. "Its front legs are both mangled, though one was already lame to begin with."

"Something attacked it?" Catherine asked, a look of concern passing over her face.

"It seems like it," Tertius told her, frowning. "I wouldn't feel sorry for it, though, Lady Catherine, Dips are not the most pleasant creatures when they are at their best. They are always thirsty. Much like the vampires in your mortal legends. They only live for the blood they drink from their victims."

Catherine's frown deepened, and though she understood what he was telling her she still didn't quite like the idea of an animal being hurt, blood sucker or no.

"So, are we just going to leave it like that?" she asked softly, glancing between Tertius and Glitch.

The knights exchanged a look, and Tertius gave a noncommittal jerk of his head, and Glitch shrugged.

"Probably," Glitch was the one to answer, turning back to her, "It wouldn't be a help to us if we stopped to give it aid. It may owe us a favor for it and I guess we could use that favor to make it swear never to attack us, but do you really want to get something back on its feet that makes its living off of drinking humans dry?"

No, she really didn't, actually, now that he put it that way. She still couldn't help the little pang of sympathy though. Her and her bleeding heart, she had to feel at least a little sorry for the Dip.

"So, will it just die?" Nikki asked then, looking quizzically at Puck, who shrugged.

"More than likely, yeah," he said, and he was so utterly detached from the morbidity of it that Nikki gave him a look. "Hey, you asked, Nik. I'm just telling you the truth. And it's like Glitchy was saying, you really want to enable your enemy? If we get him back to health, he'll just go hunting humans again, and his kind are a dime a dozen. They're everywhere. Why do you think so many of you little mortals are anemic?"

"That's what that's about?" she asked, horrified, gaping up at him with wide brown eyes.

"Part of it," he agreed.

"Well, if we're just going to let it die, then," Nikki said, still looking rather appalled, "Should we at least put it out of its misery?"

"I might agree with you," Puck told her, "But I'm not getting that close to a Dip. They're as sly as I am and that's never a good thing in a dog that drinks blood."

"You could do it from far off," Trinity pointed out. "One of your little fuzzball things should do it, right?"

"You all really want to kill it now, right after you were all for protecting it like it was some kind of housepet you might keep?" Puck demanded, looking at her in astonishment. "Jeez, you girls really know how to make a guy's head spin."

"You telling me you don't want it dead after you just stood here and said we're better off leaving it to die?" Nikki countered, narrowing her dark eyes at him as Demon appeared from the mist, looking weary.

"I didn't say that, but I'm also saying you girls have a definite way of making me dizzy with all the turnabout emotions you've got going on," Puck informed her, his emerald eyes flashing as he looked down at Nikki, though his expression wasn't so much annoyed as amused. "Besides, if anyone's going to put the poor bastard out of his misery, I think our noble and honorable Iron knights out to be the ones to do it. At least it might have the sense they won't taste good, and it seems like it's already pretty scared of them as it is."

"Just leave it be," Demon sighed, giving Puck a look of censure, not at all impressed with his crassness, "He is already on the verge and has asked that we leave him as he is."

"And you're going to honor that request?" asked Puck, looking incredulously at the Cait Sith.

"It is a death bed request, so yes, I am," Demon told him curtly, narrowing yellow-green eyes at the fey. "Now, let us go and leave him in peace. He has even given us a warning that there is a particularly blood thirsty group of goblins camping out close to here and we will want to avoid them."

"Is that what attacked him?" Catherine asked as she began to follow Demon, who immediately took the lead of their group again. "The goblins?"

"That is what would appear happened, yes," Demon said, sounding weary again as he frowned down at her. "He was fortunate enough to escape being eaten, but there is no help for him now. Goblins enjoy coating their weapons with a particular kind of venom, and he has been exposed to it long enough that it has done its damage."

"Mmm…" Catherine looked over to where the Dip was supposed to be, as they were now traveling somewhat around an invisible circle of separation, rather than straight forward as they might have otherwise. She still couldn't quite make out the figure of the fey hound, but she could just see the faintest outline of a figure, easily five feet and hulking, lying sprawled on the ground as they moved just on the edge of their invisibly drawn circle. It didn't move as they passed, but she thought she could hear ragged breathing coming from the seemingly nondescript mound, and felt her heart tug a little in her chest, despite the knowledge of what the beast was capable of at his top strength, and what he might have done to them if he had been in any condition.

Still, it didn't seem fair for a creature like that to just die this way… No matter what it had done, it was just surviving, the way it knew how. Did that make it evil? She was sure there were humans in the world who shed bled uselessly because they thought it was fun or somehow their right, but that didn't make them better than the Dip…It wasn't fair that it had to die this way, in pain…

"Catherine…" Demon's hand was tugging at her arm, and she started, looking around.

She hadn't realized she'd stopped walking, staring at the Dip's huddled form.

Blinking rapidly, she looked up into Demon's somber face, his eyes seeing too much as they peered down at her through the mist, and as he lifted a hand to her cheek, rubbing gently across her skin, she realized she was crying.

"Sorry," she mumbled, hurriedly lifting her hands to wipe at her tears, ducking her head to hide her expression.

_What was wrong with her?_

"I really don't know why I'm crying," she said, injecting a forced laugh into her voice as she wiped hard at the tears gathering in her eyes, feeling stupid.

"You feel sorry for him," Demon murmured, his hand still resting against her cheek, wiping at the tears she had missed.

She shrugged lamely, aware of everyone in the group now watching her, though with her head down she couldn't make out their expressions.

"It's just not fair," she muttered, sniffling in spite of herself.

"I know," the Cait Sith murmured, his voice almost a reassuring purr, and when she peered up at him from under damp lashes it was to see sympathy glowing warmly in the depths of his yellow-green eyes, "But there is nothing we can do…We need to move now. He wouldn't want you to stand here pitying him."

She nodded mutely, knowing he was right, and allowed him to take her hand, pulling her gently away. She still felt pained when she chanced a last glance over her shoulder, and spotted the Dip for the first time, seeing him watching them with bright, pain filled red eyes through the mist. As their eyes met, the great black canine dipped his head to her, though she could still see the anguish in his gaze, and as he dropped his head back onto his front paws, she felt her gut wrench to see they were bloodied and torn, like something had been trying to sever them from the rest of his body, and stifling a choked sob she looked away. Demon glanced down at her, not missing the little sound she made, and, seeing her with tears gathering in her eyes again slipped his hand up her arm to circle her shoulders, pulling her against his warm body with a small sigh.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asked softly, the faintest trace of humor in his voice as he looked down at her from under silvery lashes.

His palm rubbed up and down her arm as she leaned into him, trying her hardest to stop herself from crying, glad for the firm presence of the Cait Sith beside her, and clutched at his tunic as they continued to walk through the forest, further and further from the Dip. Behind her, Nikki and Trinity both had also seen the fey hound, and Nikki was also fighting back tears. Trinity wasn't crying, but that didn't mean she didn't feel her heart going out to the Dip. They both had similar thoughts to Catherine as well. They knew what the Dip did as a natural life, but if they had to be given the choice of him living or dying like that, they'd really have preferred he lived. Just the injustice and brutality of his death seemed all kinds of unfair, and Nikki found herself crying tears out of anger rather than sadness as she spared a final glance for the Dip, though, being as far off as they were at that point, she couldn't make out the shape of the fey hound. Just the mist surrounding them again.

"Hey, you," a voice murmured in her ear, and Puck's arm circled her shoulders, drawing her up against him as he lowered his head to kiss the top of hers. "I didn't know you were so big into animals…blood sucking barred."

Nikki gave a little sniff, a weak smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she glanced up at the auburn haired fey, who gave her a small smile in return, warmth and sympathy in his gaze.

"I love animals," she said thickly, heaving a sigh as she leaned her head against his shoulder, not bothered by how awkward it made walking, "Especially dogs. I know he probably wouldn't have liked hearing me say that, but, well…he's a dog."

"A blood sucking dog," Puck reminded her, nodding his head, and she gave him a short glare.

"Is that the only thing you remember about it?" she asked, cocking a dark eyebrow.

"No," he said, shaking his head, still with his little smile in place, "Just that it's a very prominent thing I remember about Dips in general. I've encountered more than one in my lifetime, some at their best, others at their worst, so I've seen all ends of the spectrum where they're concerned. But they're all pretty much the same. They do what they do because they have to, and I've never really had a problem with that, but, well…this time I had you around."

"And that makes it different?" she asked, a little surprised.

"It makes it very different," he agreed, nodding seriously, his emerald eyes glowing through the dimness.

"Why does it make it different?" she asked, wiping at her teary eyes.

"Because," he said, and gave her his best Puck-grin, "Only I get to drink your blood."

She gave a weak snort of exasperation, rolling her brown eyes, and he chuckled softly, bending to kiss her head again, sending butterflies winging through her stomach.

"So, are you a vampire or a faery, because now I'm confused," she told him, glancing up at him from under her lashes.

"I could be both," he said with a crooked smile and a waggle of his eyebrows. "Edward Cullen certainly was. All sparkly and shit, and then he drank blood. He was totally a faery masquerading as a vampire."

"Or maybe a vampire masquerading as a faery," Nikki challenged, grinning up at him, and he chuckled again.

"There is definitely that possibility," he agreed, "Though I'm partial to the faery as a vampire thing myself. Makes more sense. What kind of vampire would disgrace itself by going running around like it just got tarred and then jumped nude into a tub of sequins?"

"A really gay one," Nikki said wisely, and Puck laughed out loud at that.

"There is totally that possibility," he snickered when he'd stopped being so loud, mostly because Demon had given him a rather dark look at being so loud. "But was Edward Cullen gay? I mean, he got married and had a kid, remember?"

"It was a cover-up," she said. "He was really in love with Jasper the whole time, but they could never be together because Alice would have seen it coming, so he invested his sexual frustration in someone else, got a kid out of it, and then, when neither Bella nor Renesmee were looking, went and had an affair with Jacob."

Puck wasn't sure if he was more impressed or disgusted with that conclusion, and had to admit that it was really a bit of both as he looked down at Nikki through narrowed emerald eyes, glad, at least, that she was smiling now, even if there were still a few rogue tears in her eyes.

"You really put some thought into that, didn't you?" he asked her in amusement, and she grinned.

"Nah, not really," she said, shaking her head, sending her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. "Just it came to me on the spur of the moment and it made sense."

"It makes sense, sure, but you forget to mention what happens after Jasper found out Edward was having the affair with Jacob, and whether or not Bella and Renesmee found out," Puck pointed out with a little smirk.

"Oh, Jasper totally found out," she said decisively, her face so serious that Puck might have believed her if not for the total insanity of their conversation. "Because Edward came back one day and was giving off these totally sexy vibes, and Jasper got him all cozy and got him to admit he'd had the affair, and then he slapped him and said they were officially over and left. But he eventually came back because he couldn't stay away. Alice found out, and so did Bella and Renesmee. Stephenie Meyer just left all of that out."

"Did she now?" asked Puck, full out grinning now, amusement sparkling in his emerald eyes. "And what would that book have been called if she'd published it? Or would it have been a whole other series?"

"It would have been a whole other series," Nikki decided after a moment of thought. "Because you can't get that much drama into one book unless you really try. It would have been called the _Sunshine_ series."

"Sunshine?" Puck was about to start laughing again. "And why the hell would it be called the _Sunshine _series? Just to be in complete contrast to _Twilight_?"

"That, too," she agreed, bobbing her head, "But also, you have to think, what kind of steamy romance novel would it be for a couple of sparkly gay vampires if we named it something like _Blood and Roses_?"

"Fair point," said Puck, snickering. "So, the _Sunshine _series. And what would the books have been called? I'm assuming book one would be _Sunshine_."

"There would be four books altogether," Nikki said, and Puck smirked. "The first one would definitely be called _Sunshine_. The second book would be called _Sparkles_. The third book would have been _Rainbows_. And the last book would be something really snazzy like—"

But Puck didn't get to hear what that snazzy last book would be called, for right as Nikki opened her mouth to say the title, there was a piercing, keening cry that rent the air, shattering the quiet around them like the breaking of glass, and they all froze as one as the recognized the sound of a death cry. But as abruptly as the sound had begun, it cut off in a strangled screech, leaving an even deeper, more ominous silence than before, and Nikki was immediately no longer thinking of sunshine or sparkles or rainbows as she clung to Puck, and he kept an arm firmly around her, his emerald eyes wide as he stared around.

"What the hell was that?" Glitch demanded in a hushed voice, also looking around. One hand tightened on the hilt of his sword.

"We need to move," Demon said just as quietly, urgency in his voice, "Now."

He didn't offer any more explanation than that, but no one really needed him to, and as he broke into a swift jog, they all followed, casting furtive looks around them, waiting for whatever had just made its kill to come lunging out at them as well. Tertius and Glitch to the back of the group, covering the rear just to ensure if anything came after them that they were ready for it, but as they continued to hurry along, not quite running through the misty trees, nothing appeared, and Catherine even noticed that the shadowy figure from before had, for the first time, failed to make an appearance, but for some reason that didn't comfort her. If anything, it made her blood run cold as she continued to jog beside Demon, his hand around hers, making sure not to lose her as he weaved almost dizzyingly through the trees around them, his yellow-green eyes narrowed against the haze, searching.

"Here," he hissed after almost ten minutes of silent, hurried jogging, coming to a sudden stop just beside a path of forest that looked no different than the rest.

He turned to a tree standing just to his right, and put his palm against the wood. Almost immediately, the outline of a door appeared, and he hurried to push it forward, though, unlike the doors to the trods, this door did not open into another section of the Nevernever, but rather into a cottage, buried in the trunk of the tree.

"Go," he murmured, pushing Catherine ahead of him.

She glanced around nervously at the others, then hurried inside, at first not sure if they would all fit in the trunk of the tree. Of course, that had been a stupid worry when you were in the Nevernever, and no sooner had she walked into the concealed interior than she discovered she was experiencing a very Harry Potter-like scene as she stepped into the front room of a decently large cottage, rather than the cramped interior of a tree. Trinity and Nikki were quick to follow her, apparently shooed ahead by the men, though Trinity looked rather indignant as Tertius prompted her to go ahead of him while he stayed behind with Glitch to be sure the girls got in first. Puck entered next, giving the room an appreciative once over before he hurried to where Nikki stood by the hearth set in one of the walls and gathered her up in his arms. Tertius and Glitch were next, Tertius stepping over to Trinity, who gave him a reprimanding look that he shrugged and smiled apologetically at, and Demon was last, stepping through the entrance backwards, his eyes on the outside woods. He closed the door the moment he was inside, and drew a wooden bar into place over the door, locking it and barring the way from outsiders.

Sighing as he completed the task, apparently feeling they'd avoided the worst, he stepped away from the door and turned to face the rest of the group, several of whose members were very pale in the face, or otherwise looking very grim.

"You wanna tell us what that was now?" Glitch asked the Cait Sith, who held a rather solemn look in his yellow-green eyes as he looked over at Catherine.

"Something killed the Dip," he murmured quietly, and everybody in the room tensed. "That cry was from the Dip. I do not know what or who killed it, but I feel it is very safe to assume it was the figure that had been trailing us earlier that Catherine pointed out."

"And why do you think that's what did it?" asked Nikki, her brown eyes enormous and horrified as she leaned into Puck.

"Because I couldn't sense anything else aside from the Dip," Demon explained, and Catherine felt that familiar experience of having her blood turn to ice in her veins, chilling her.

"Did it follow us here?" Tertius asked, his voice low and serious as he faced Demon, his silvery eyes narrowed as he slipped an arm around Trinity's shoulders, drawing her to him.

"If it did, it will not get in," Demon said, sounding very certain of that fact.

"You seem a little overconfident about that," Puck observed, apparently noticing how determinedly the Cait Sith made his statement.

"Only a few fey are permitted in here," Demon told the Summer fey, narrowing his eyes. "I am one of them, and I know all the others given passage, and I have it on good authority they would not be the ones to trail us as that figure has been, or to kill a Dip, no matter how forsaken the beast might have been."

Well, then that was a little more reassuring, thought Puck, breathing out a deep sigh as he rubbed his hands up and down Nikki's back. Still, he was very much uneasy about the fact that a shadowy figure that he hadn't even seen had managed to follow them this far, _and _kill a Dip in cold blood. He knew the creature had been dying anyway, but that didn't make the act seem any less heartless when you had to look at the fact that the Dip had still been coherent, despite being lame with pain. Mercy killing wasn't unheard of in Faery, but the screech the Dip had given made him feel the canine hadn't exactly been asking for such mercy, or anticipated such a quick death. Whatever had killed it, it had done it on its own whim, and that bothered him extremely. Because now he had to face the fact that whatever had been following them could just as easily dispatch them if it wanted to, and if they couldn't sense it that put them on the really short end of the stick.

"And if it has followed us here, even if it can't get in," he said, a sudden thought occurring to him as he stood there with Nikki, "Just how do you expect us to leave? I don't expect you're going to have us go waltzing out there like some kind of hair brained idiot starring in _The Mist_ and hope not to get eaten or disemboweled or something."

"You're making an awful lot of movie references," Nikki observed, to which he shrugged.

"It's my comfort mechanism," he explained with a wry smile, though his nerves were still jangling with alarm bells and he felt he'd like nothing better than to take Nikki and find them a nuclear-war proof underground shelter and lock themselves in it. "When I get freaked out, I cite movies."

"It's a good mechanism," she said, offering a weak smile. She wished she could have his ease, because she was just on edge as he was at the moment, except she didn't quite have the outlet he did.

"As for going outside," Demon said, answering Puck's question, "There is another exit. This is not just a lodge; it is also the safe house for one of the trods here."

"A trod?" Catherine's head perked up at this. "Then why weren't we coming here to get to the Briars?"

"Because the trod here leads up into the human world, a good distance from where we would be able to find another trod into the Briars," said Demon, frowning at her. "This is more of a way for exiles or escapees or those being pursued in other manners to hide and find a safe way out of the Nevernever if they have been cornered, and then back in through whatever trod they might decide to locate in the human world."

"So, this is where the refugees go," said Puck with a little roll of his emerald eyes. "That's good to know. You have an underground railroad operation right in your own home."

"You could always go outside and take your chances with our little follower," Demon told him coolly, to which Puck grinned.

"Tempting idea, but I prefer all my internal organs remaining in the interior of my body where they belong, thanks, cat," he said. "I'd rather take my chances with whatever psycho humans we'll meet topside than go back out there. Humans, at least, I can hide from."

"You make it sound like you're playing chicken, Goodfellow," Glitch told him, having now seated himself on one of the armchairs that littered the inside of the cabin's main room.

"No, just being conservative of my wellbeing," Puck replied, giving an inelegant little sniff. "Unless you'd like to tell me that you want to go out there and greet our avid stalker. I'm sure he'd just keel over from excitement to be face to face with the focus of his sociopathic obsession."

Glitch grimaced back at him, but otherwise did not say anything. And no one else brought up the issue of Puck's bravery considering they all knew he was right. Stepping out into the misty forest again was suicidal at this point. Where before their shadowy follower had merely been a watcher, now he—or she or it or whatever—was legitimately dangerous. It had killed the Dip in cold blood, never mind that the beast had been on the verge of death anyway, and that was incentive enough. Not to mention since Demon seemed to think they needed to take shelter it was probably good that they had already. Catherine didn't like to think of what might have happened if he hadn't had this little trick up his sleeve and they'd been forced to encounter the shadowy figure. The figure with Sage's eyes…

She really wasn't sure what scared her more, or she hadn't been until now. The fact that they'd been being followed at a distance by the figure had definitely been alarming, but then she'd had to question how much more alarming it was that the figure had had Sage's eyes. To her, they had been on equal par, but now, knowing the shadow had killed, and so close to them, still following them, though they hadn't seen or sensed it, was more terrifying than anything else she could think about it. And they still had no idea what it was, or what it looked like, or what it wanted. Just that it was following them, and it wanted _something_.

"So, what do we do for now?" Trinity asked with a sigh, looking around at Demon, her blue eyes holding a mixture of worry and weariness. "Do we go ahead for the trod?"

"No," Demon murmured, surprising all of them. "For now, we need to rest."

"What, it's that late already?" asked Puck, surprised.

"No, just that we need to think up a new course to take," Demon explained, frowning around at the room full of people. "Now that we cannot reach the trod we were aiming for, unless we wish to risk the danger of encountering whatever is following us, it is better to take the trod here, and find another way to the Briars through the human world. However, that is easier said than done, since many of the trods we will encounter in the Mortal Realm when we go through the one here aren't situated close enough to the Briars as I would have liked. It was why we were not meant to come here in the first place."

"Well, what would be the closest trod once we get there?" Trinity pressed him, "And where would we even come up in the human world?"

"If I remember correctly," said Demon slowly, "The trod out of here leads directly into the middle of New York City."

The look that passed between Catherine, Nikki and Trinity was tantamount to horror, and Catherine gave a low groan of despair as she sank into one of the other armchairs, hands over her face.

"New York," she whimpered, and Puck seconded her dismay by grimacing.

"Hey, nothing like a vacation to the middle of hell," he said, looking disgusted at the very idea of the Big Apple. "Why the hell do you even have a trod to the middle of New York City of all places?"

"Because it would dissuade any interested parties from pursuing the runaway into the human world," Demon explained patiently. "If you had to list the top five places a fey would never enjoy being—at least with the exception of the Iron Fey—the second on that list would be New York City. It was set up as a second deterrent aside from the protective barrier around this place. No sane fey, regardless of who they were after, would risk a venture into one of the most uninhabitable places on the face of the human planet."

"Fair point," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes. "Still, that's going to be about as much fun as if we'd run into that Dip on his good day."

"Don't," groaned Nikki then, burying her face in his shirt and thumping his chest, "I don't want to hear about the Dip right now…We just…heard it die a little while ago…"

Puck frowned, looking exceptionally guilty as he tightened his hold on her, dropping his head onto hers as she sighed shakily against his chest, realizing he'd made a little misstep he probably should have known to avoid.

"Sorry," he mumbled against her hair, and she merely sighed again in response.

"So, we stay here for the night," Trinity went on, acting as though the incident hadn't happened as she addressed Demon. "Then what? We leave first thing as soon as we figure out where to get a good trod in New York, right?"

"If all goes well, yes," agreed Demon, nodding his silvery head at her. "I will need to review the list of trods we keep here."

"You have a _list_?" Glitch asked, his violet eyes widening as his eyebrows shot up in amazement. "Why the hell do you have a list of trods here? I thought the whole point was to avoid letting the pursuers know where you went."

"The list is kept guarded," Demon told him patiently, though he narrowed his eyes. "Just like how only a few privileged fey can enter here, even fewer of those fey have access to the lists. I am only aware of three people that can actually access the vault, and one of those people is myself."

"And just how long of a list are we talking about?" Trinity asked quizzically, narrowing her blue eyes at the Cait Sith, pushing a hand through her ivory hair.

"Several hundred trods in all," Demon said, shrugging, and she gaped. "It should not take long, as only a few of them reach places near enough to get to the Briars, though I am still unhappy that we have to resort to a roundabout way. It would have been much more convenient to keep on the path we were on, but, that not being an option anymore, we will have to make do with this."

"How much longer will it take going this way do you think?" Catherine asked, lifting her face out of her hands to frown at him, jade eyes worried.

"Just a day or two, human time," Demon estimated, looking over at her with a small frown of his own.

"That's not too bad, then," Catherine sighed, looking a little more relieved. "So we'll just sleep here. Um…"

She glanced around suddenly, looking uncertain but hopeful.

"Is there any kind of bath here? I know that's hoping for a lot but—"

"Through there," said Demon, gesturing towards a door behind him, "Feel free to use it while we are here, since we will not be making any leisure stops in the human world."

"Kill joy," sang Puck under his breath to Nikki, who gave a low snort of amusement, though she kept her face buried in his shirt. "You would think the guy would at least want to let us see the Empire State Building or something if he's dragging us right into the heart of hell."

"New York is not hell," Nikki told him in a mutter.

"Sure it is," Puck said, snorting. "Haven't you ever heard that if you call from anywhere else in the nation to hell, you have to pay for long distance? In New York, they have it on speed dial and they don't get charged because they live right on top of the place."

"I thought we talked about how hell isn't even that bad of a place," Nikki mumbled, "What with Wrath and all that."

"Man, I don't know if I believe that," Puck told her, rubbing his chin across the top of her head, "If Hell isn't hell, then what the hell is it?"

Nikki couldn't help the little giggle of amusement that slipped from her, though she was still very much engrossed in her darker thoughts, of the Dip and their shadowy stalker, and everything else now. But she kept it to herself. No use worrying over it when there was nothing she could currently do about it other than go with Demon's new plan and pray it didn't end up with them dead.

"Well, I'm going to take a bath, then," sighed Catherine, "Unless someone wants to demand they need it first, I have dibs."

"It is all yours," Trinity informed her friend with a wry smile. Catherine returned the smile, beginning to rise to her feet, but she wasn't even halfway out of her chair when a stabbing, blinding pain burst into existence, not just flaring up in her shoulder, but overtaking her entire body in a matter of seconds, resonating from the wounds in her back.

She didn't even hear if she screamed or not as her vision turned pitch black, and the world went dark and silent.

"_CAT!_"

Trinity was the one who screamed as Catherine dropped to the floor, but not before Demon had shot forward and caught her in his arms, lowering her gently to the ground, his yellow-green eyes huge as Trinity and Nikki broke away from both Puck and Tertius, racing forward to kneel beside their friend. Nikki's heart was in her throat as she crouched down by Catherine, who wasn't moving as she lay limp in Demon's arms, and her hands shook as she reached out to take her friend's hand, clasping it between hers and peering anxiously down at Catherine as the girl continued to lay, totally unconscious, in the Cait Sith's grip.

"What the hell just happened?" demanded Trinity in a quavering voice, her blue eyes enormous and terrified as she too knelt down, staring down into Catherine's face, feeling very close to hysteria.

She could handle potential assassins, and Dips, and everything else in between, but this was not okay. Not at all okay.

"I think her shoulder again," Demon confided in a low murmur, his gaze equally desperate as it roamed Catherine's face, looking for a sign of life, only reassured by the feel of her heartbeat and her breathing against his hand as he checked her pulse. "Nothing else makes sense…"

"But she didn't even scream or anything," Nikki said, really scared now.

She knew it sounded like an odd thing to say, but at least when someone screamed it meant the pain wasn't so overwhelming they were past feeling it. Catherine hadn't even gasped. She had just stood up and gone down in a split second, like…Nikki hated to think of it, but like she'd been shot dead. Except even people were shot took a split second to pause before they fell, and Cat hadn't. She'd just fallen…Like a lifeless doll, and Nikki didn't like it at all.

"I think she'll be alright," Demon murmured, though Nikki noticed upon looking up at him that nothing about the worry in the Cait Sith's face said he really believed what he was saying. "I'll take her to the other room…"

Carefully, he readjusted his grip on Catherine, pulling her to his chest and lifting her, bridal-style, in his arms, Nikki and Trinity rising, Nikki still holding Catherine's limp hand.

"What can we do?" Glitch asked, having been lingering a little to the side, though the minute Catherine had collapsed he'd been on his feet, looking ready to jump in and help, now looking unsure what to do.

"I'm not sure," Demon admitted, for the first time in living memory sounding defeated as he carefully made his way over to one of the many adjacent doors around them, which Trinity hurried to open for him so he could carry Catherine through it.

Nikki had to briefly relinquish her hold on her friend's hand, which didn't help her anxiety at all, but the minute Demon was through the door, she was behind him again, practically dancing on the spot with worry as he carefully set Catherine down on the small bed inside, which was layered down with what looked like deer furs. Draping one of the furs over the still unconscious girl, Demon stepped carefully to the side, allowing Nikki to rush forward and seize her friend's hand again, noting how her own was still trembling as she twined her fingers with Catherine's, her brown eyes beseeching her friend's face for any kind of indication she was about to wake up. Finding none.

"Will she wake up?" she asked, a little breathlessly, turning to look at Demon as he hovered uncertainly in the doorway, his eyes holding a kind of haunted look as he gazed down at Catherine.

"I am sure she will," he said, though, again, she noticed he didn't seem as convinced of himself as she wished he would, "It is just…I could not even begin to estimate when… So far, at least from this morning, the pain has not kept her down for long."

"It also hasn't made her faint, either," Trinity murmured quietly, stepping past the Cait Sith, her eyes rather over bright as they settled on Catherine's still figure on the bed. "You guys might not keep us totally in the loop, but I know that much. She'd have told us about that, even if she didn't want to at first. This is the first time this has happened, isn't it? It's why you're looking so freaked out right now."

Demon gave her a long, weary look, only confirming the fact that she was right as he then ducked his head, allowing his silvery bangs to fall into his tired and slightly ashen face. In fact, Trinity thought he almost looked ill in the light being thrown from the several candles set in racks around the room, as though he hadn't been getting nearly enough sleep, and it only occurred to her then just how much he'd been working, watching Catherine struggle, doing his best to keep her safe from everything, even herself and her illness, and how much of a toll it must be taking on him. And now this…

She almost pitied him, really, knowing how much he'd been trying to do for Catherine, and what it meant as far as how he was affected by it all, but she still couldn't quite shake off her feeling of anger as she looked at the Cait Sith, feeling that—if he'd really been doing his job of protecting Catherine—this wouldn't have happened at all. She knew she shouldn't hold him responsible for Rowan getting close to Cat last night, but she couldn't seem to let it go, either. He was her guardian and his own aversion to social events—so he'd said—had been the reason he hadn't been with them at Elysium, and she felt that it shouldn't have mattered what he felt about Elysium; he should have been there anyway. And because he hadn't, now things were like this… But she knew the one thing that bothered her more than any of that was that they didn't know what to do about it. She could have handled Catherine being hurt and fainting if they at least had an answer as to why or how to really fix it, but they didn't. Well, they kind of knew why.

Rowan…

The sadistic prince, wherever he was at the moment, had apparently just had a very, very vicious temper flare, and given what Demon had said about the connection, the focus had been on Catherine, even if Rowan didn't quite realize what he was doing as a result. But that didn't matter a bit to her… It mattered that he could hurt Catherine, and that they didn't know how to stop it. And as if that wasn't enough already, now they had a potential assassin on their trail and were going to have to go around the ass to the get to the elbow in order to reach the Briars instead of having a straight shot because of that. There were just so many things going wrong already…

"What do we do?" she whispered, turning blue eyes on Demon as he leaned in the doorway, his expression still dark, almost haunted.

"There's nothing we _can _do," he murmured back, shaking his head slowly, his eyes on Catherine's face.

Trinity bit her lip to keep from saying anything back, knowing it wouldn't help. She hated hearing people say there was nothing they could do…It made her think of her talk with Tertius, and how even if she couldn't do anything, she could still be there for her friends. Well, that was all fine and dandy, but being here for Cat wasn't going to help her get any better or lessen her pain by a long shot. Cat didn't even know she was here right now, because she freaking passed out from the pain. Her being there didn't help jack shit.

"But why was it so bad this time, is what I want to know?" Nikki murmured then, momentarily distracting Trinity from her mental rant. "It's never been this bad, even if it just started happening today…Why now? All of a sudden, why now?"

Demon gazed down for a long moment at Catherine's sleeping face, and Nikki and Trinity did the same, Nikki with tears brimming in her eyes as she gently stroked her friend's hand.

"The only thing I can guess," Demon murmured at last, "Is that wherever Rowan is now, whatever he is experiencing, it made him think of her, and in no good terms. I'd almost say this would have been a conscious effort to make her feel pain, but if that were the case he would have known to do so long before now. He wouldn't have waited this long to make her collapse like this if he knew he had the ability."

"So what?" Nikki asked in a thick voice, turning watering brown eyes onto the Cait Sith, anger in their depths. "Maybe he _does _know and he's just making us think he isn't. It's what faeries do best, right? They can't lie, but they can sure as hell deceive people, and he's the best at it. Why let us onto the fact that he knows what he can do to her when he can just sit cozy at home in his fucking palace and have us running around like idiots thinking he's totally oblivious to what he's doing? That would just ruin his fun, wouldn't it? Because he knows we'd come put his sorry ass twelve feet under if we ever found out!"

"Nikki," Trinity began in a low voice, seeing her friend on the brink of losing control. But Nikki wasn't done, not even halfway…

"I'm sick of his shit," she spat furiously, angry tears now rolling down her cheeks, "He gets away with all this crap, all the stuff he does to Cat, and no one even thinks about stopping him because he's so fucking high and mighty that they're all scared of him! I don't care what anyone says, I know Mab didn't give anywhere near the kind of pain he should have had to deal with when they got back to Tir Na Nog! He deserves to be put in the ground for this crap, and no one is going to do it! I would right now, I'd go right over there and bury his ass, but that stupid fucking promise I made Cat doesn't let me, and it pisses me the hell off! She shouldn't have to deal with this! She doesn't deserve everything he's done to her, so why the hell did it have to be her?!"

Nikki's voice cracked, and she looked away, tears obscuring her vision as she choked on a furious sob, dropping her head onto the edge of the bed, clutching Cat's hand in hers while Trinity and Demon looked on with somber expressions. Trinity's sapphire eyes were over bright, and Demon looked even more careworn and distraught than before as he gazed down through hooded yellow-green eyes at Nikki's bowed mahogany head. Behind him, he heard someone approach slowly, almost too silent to be heard, and a moment later he was being nudged aside as Puck entered the room, his emerald eyes dark as they rested on Nikki's crying form, and he shot a look at Demon that the Cait Sith either didn't notice or ignored.

Sweeping past the Cait Sith and Trinity, Puck lowered himself into a crouch beside Nikki, his expression tender and sorrowful as he reached out a gentle hand to touch her shoulder. She didn't look up at his touch, but she didn't shrug it off, either, so he gently slid his arm around her shoulders, gently drawing her up from the bed and back against him, though she continued to cry, and refused to let go of Catherine's hand, as though for all the world she thought she might lose her friend for good if she did.

"Nikki," Puck murmured, dropping his head to rest on hers, his lips at her ear, "Come on, beautiful, you need to let go for now…She'll be okay…"

Nikki hiccupped quietly and shook her head, tightening her grip on Catherine's hand as though her life depended on it.

"Nikki," Puck's voice became firmer, though his eyes were sad as he gazed down at her tear streaked face, "I know how much you hurt right now and if I could I'd go kill Rowan myself and bring back his head for you, but we can't do that. Right now, the best thing we can do is let her rest it off. You worrying like this won't help her, and she wouldn't want to see you like this over her."

She shook her head again, but her fingers loosened a fraction from around Catherine's, and Puck, feeling a little tug in his heart, gently reached forward with a hand to lay it over hers, hating how she trembled under his touch as he slowly slipped his fingers between hers and Catherine's. She struggled at first, as though she wasn't about to really let him take her away from her friend, but in the back of her mind, she knew he was right, and much as she wanted nothing more than to sit and cry here like a baby, venting about all the injustice and cruelty that had been done, she knew it wouldn't help anything. So she allowed him to take her hand back, coiling her fingers around his instead, almost to the point that his knuckles turned white from the force of her grip, but he didn't say anything about it as he pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. She turned her head into his shirt, the tears doubling, and her entire body shook with her sobs as he rocked her gently back and forth, sorrow in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her.

Trinity stood by the bed still, also looking down at her sobbing friend, doing her best not to make a move to break anything valuable in the room, though every cell in her body shrieked at her to do…_something_. _Anything_. How could it be that she couldn't do anything right now? Catherine was in such pain that she was unconscious, and Nikki was in tears over it, and she was just standing there doing fucking _nothing_.

"I hate this," she whispered, sudden tears welling in her eyes, blinding her before she could blink them away, "I fucking hate this, this isn't fair!"

She strode from the room, banging past Demon, who didn't react at all as he knocked back into the doorframe, but continued to stand there with his head down. Barreling into the main room, she wasn't really aware of where her feet were taking her until an arm shot out suddenly, wrapping around her waist, and drawing her backwards despite her struggles to continue forward, shouting an angry protest that she didn't quite understand herself, turning with a fist raised, ready to strike out at whoever had gotten in her way, only to stop, dead, as she met a pair of burning silver eyes, blurred from the tears clouding her eyes, and Tertius's voice murmured softly,

"Trinity…"

It was that quiet murmur that brought her back to her senses, making her halt her fist a mere inch from his face before she could strike him, though he didn't even flinch away from her oncoming attack, merely looking straight into her watering sapphire eyes. His expression was calm, but there was an underlying concern in his mercury colored eyes, and his hold around her tightened somewhat as she felt her tears double as she forced herself to relax in his grip.

_What had she been doing…? She'd just tried to hit Tertius…_

"I'm sorry," she whispered, dropping her face into his chest, feeling the tears well over before she could stop them, becoming an endless torrent, burning her face as they slipped down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Tertius, I just…"

"Shh," he hushed her, gathering her up in his arms, gently running long fingers through her silky ivory hair. "I know, Trinity…I know…Just breathe for me, now, alright? Just breathe…"

She tried, but it wasn't easy, and she started hiccupping as she attempted to stem the flood of her tears and continue to breathe evenly. Tertius merely continued to hold her to him, his heart beating steadily beneath her ear as she rested her face against his tunic, dampening the fabric with her tears. Her knees felt weak beneath her, and she felt she might have fallen to the floor if it weren't for the Iron knight's arms supporting her. Almost as though reading her mind then, he gently slid back from her, not quite breaking away, and stooped to gently lift her up into his arms, carrying her over to one of the few couches in the main room and setting her down on it as she continued to sniffle against his chest, her face thoroughly soaked with tears, her eyes red and swollen.

"I'm sorry," she hiccupped again as he lowered her to the couch, sitting down beside her and pulling her to his chest again, gently patting her back.

"It isn't your fault, Trinity," he murmured, laying his dark head atop hers, his silver eyes mournful as he gazed down at her, taking in the glittering tears on her face.

He had never thought he would ever truly hate anything in this world, so long as he lived, and considering he had gone so long without hating anything to begin with, even his bitterest enemy, but he now was proven wrong. He had discovered something to truly hate, and it was seeing Trinity in tears. Gently, he lifted a hand to brush at the drops of salt water as they continued to seep down from her eyes, but more came, and he felt a surge of despair in his chest as he watched her lean into him, her normally bright eyes dark with sadness and pain and anger.

"This isn't fair," she whispered into his shoulder, turning her face to try and hide the tears spilling over. "This really isn't fair, why did this happen to her…? Her of all people…!"

"I know," he murmured softly, trailing his finger over her ivory hair, feeling his heart clench painfully as he felt her trembling against him. "It should not have happened to her, Trinity, and I wish there was something more I could do…"

"Kill Rowan for me and we'll be good," she hiccupped, and though she tried to sound joking he could hear the underlying fury in her voice that the tears did not quite hide.

She truly wanted the Ice Prince dead, and he did not blame her an ounce. Rowan had done something unforgivable in her eyes, harming her best friend—not just once—but three times, and they had not been able to stop him from doing so. Trinity had felt for the longest time that it was her duty to protect her friends, as the eldest in their trio, and now he knew, almost as well as she did, the kind of grief and guilt that gnawed at her as a result of failing to do so. Though Tertius would love nothing more than to sit there and tell her over and over again that she was not at all to blame for this until she finally believed him, but he knew that would do no good. He could tell her that for a thousand years and she would still blame herself. He knew she blamed others, such as Oberon, and perhaps even Demon for what Rowan had managed to get away with, but more than them she blamed herself. She saw Catherine as her responsibility. Her little sister to keep safe and protect, and now she had just been forced to sit uselessly while her friend had collapsed and now lay in the other room, almost comatose.

How could he expect her not to wish Rowan's death after that? Truly, if he knew Catherine better, if he had the same connection to the girl as Trinity he did, he might also wish the Prince's death for his crimes. At the moment, however, he was too concerned with how the Prince should pay for making Trinity grieve so much...and how he could make that grief go away.

"You should sleep," he murmured softly against her ivory hair, closing his silvery eyes and nuzzling closer.

"I can't sleep," she said thickly, shaking her head as she continued to sniffle into his tunic, "Not now…I want to stay up with Cat…"

"I will be awake," he told her softly, "And I promise I will wake you the moment she does, but, Trinity, if you exhaust yourself like this it will not be any help to her or anyone else. She wouldn't want you to be like this, just as I am sure she would not want Nicolette to worry either."

"I can't help that," Trinity said, and through her tears her voice became sharp, "I can't help being worried, because if I said I wasn't worried I'd be lying."

"I am not asking to say you are not worried," he reminded her, gently bringing his hands to her shoulders, pushing her back slightly so he could peer more clearly down into her tear stained face. "I am asking you to rest, and know that we will take care of her for now. She will wake up again, Trinity, this is just a spell. In a way, this is better. In this sleep, she can't feel the rest of the pain. Asleep, she is safe."

"And when she wakes up?" Trinity asked through a hiccup, turning pained blue eyes up to his face. "Then what? She just has to deal with the pain until another 'spell' comes up?"

"I wish I could say I knew," he told her sincerely, frowning down at her, brushing back strands of her ivory hair as they hung in her face, stuck to her cheeks from the tears, "But all I can say for certain now is that we all need to rest and get up our strength to go looking for Lord Wrath as soon as possible. Otherwise we will have even fewer answers than if we were to find him. As Demon has said, our best chance for Catherine—both in finding her father and in healing her—is with him. If we allow ourselves to wear down from worry and pain, we will be of no help getting Catherine to him."

Trinity knew he was right, but she still didn't want to go to sleep, no matter how many good points he made, and shook her head in rejection as he looked imploringly down at her through glittering silver eyes.

"Trinity," he said, his voice reproachful, but she shot him a look and he went quiet.

"I can't sleep right now," she told him firmly, "It isn't even a matter of wanting to, Tertius, I can't sleep like this even if I wanted to. You think I could sleep in this state, knowing Catherine is still hurting, or will be hurting when she wakes up? You really think I could close my eyes and just fall asleep after what I saw happen to her a few minutes ago?"

Tertius looked at her, his silver eyes weary as he searched her expression, seeing the taught lines of her mouth, the exhaustion in her blue eyes, and felt himself sigh.

"No, you couldn't," he murmured, frowning. "But I wish you would at least try…we have nightshade, Trinity."

"That's Cat's, I'm not touching it," said Trinity curtly, but that wasn't the only reason she wasn't about to knock back a vial of nightshade. When she'd said she couldn't sleep, she also meant she _wouldn't_. She was not about to go to sleep after what had just happened. She'd stay awake all night if she had to, but she wasn't going to go to sleep if Catherine was going to wake up. She'd be awake when her friend woke, and she'd be there for her.


	35. Chapter 35

Without even asking her, Tertius could see he wasn't going to make any progress at all attempting to convince Trinity to get to sleep, or even rest her eyes for a few moments. He could see the stubborn set of her mouth, and the deliberate burn of rebellion in her sapphire eyes, and heaved a deep sigh of resignation as he conceded defeat.

"Will you at least take a bath while we wait?" he asked her quietly, frowning at her, his silver eyes worried as they roamed over her face.

She hesitated, and he saw the tiniest window of opportunity and murmured,

"It would be good to at least unwind a little, and then you can go sit with Catherine, alright?"

Unwind, she thought, fighting the urge to grimace. If he really thought a hot bath would help her unwind after all this, she might have to teach him otherwise. No amount of hot water, no matter how comfortable it was, was going to make her relax in the slightest tonight. Still, it wouldn't hurt anything to clean herself up, since she felt disgusting from the sweat of walking around all day, and her sore feet ached and could probably stand a little soaking.

"Alright," she murmured, sighing softly and pushing a hand through her hair, leaving her ivory bangs to fall untamed into her face. "And then I sit with Cat, and no one argues with me about it. I mean it."

"I'll spread the word," he said with a wan smile, and she couldn't help but give one back, though it stretched her face to the point she thought it might shatter like porcelain.

"Especially to Glitch," she told him as he slipped away from her, rising to his feet, "Because I know he'll hassle me otherwise."

"Not when you're liable to tear my head off, I won't," said a wary voice from the corner, and she glanced around to see the aforementioned knight reclining against the wall, ankles and arms crossed. His violet eyes were narrowed at her, as if challenging her to come near him, but she could see a faint glimmer of sympathy as he took in her tear stained cheeks and puffy red eyes. "I might be a tad slow on the uptake, but I am not outright stupid. Just because the shark happens to have been well fed beforehand doesn't mean I'm going to stick my hand in the tank because it's 'safe'. I rather like having all my appendages adhered to my body in the appropriate manner, thanks."

Trinity found herself grinning weakly at him, and he offered a small smile in return, though it didn't quite reach his dark eyes.

"Just remember that if you decide you want to nag me about it," she warned him, and he gave a mocking salute.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," he said, smirking, and she rolled her eyes at the ceiling.

"Bath?" Tertius prompted her when she didn't stand up from the couch.

"I'm going," she sighed, pushing herself up from the couch, giving him a rather stern look, "Don't you start nagging. I'm just as likely to bite you as I am him if you push the wrong buttons."

"See, but he's smarter than me," Glitch told her with a rather impish grin. "He knows just what buttons to push. I light them all up and hope nothing spontaneously combusts right in my face."

"And does that usually work?" she asked tiredly, taking Tertius's hand as the Iron knight led her gently over to the bathroom door.

"No, not really," Glitch admitted with a little shrug and a snort. "But that's because I leave the button pushing to Tertius, so I completely cancel out all possibility of things blowing up in my face. I should also mention I like having my nose and my eyebrows where they're supposed to be."

"I can't wait until you get married or something, Glitch," Trinity sighed in half-hearted amusement, still not quite herself as she paused outside the bathroom, looking back at him, "And then you're going to be all on your own and Tertius won't be able to help you."

"He has fixed that problem as well, as a matter of fact," Tertius explained before Glitch could answer, "He intends to live an eternal bachelor and save himself the trouble."

"You mean he's going to play chicken," she corrected Tertius with a little smirk thrown in Glitch's direction, "And not take the risk."

"There's not always something to be gained from risk taking," Glitch informed her with a little sniff, turning his nose up, "Haven't you heard of venturing on the side of caution? It works just as well if not better."

"But what's life without a little risk every now and again?" Trinity asked, winking at the knight, who snorted.

"A hell of a lot safer, from what I understand," he told her dryly. "Now, go take your shower, before Tertius has a nervous breakdown. Look at the poor bastard! He's dancing on the spot with worry"

Trinity glanced over at Tertius, just for her own merits, and smirked to find he was standing perfectly still beside her, not quite tense but not altogether relaxed either, and most certainly not dancing on the spot. At least not physically. His silver eyes spoke volumes as far as his concern went, and she could see it in the lines showing on his forehead, and couldn't stop herself from gently reaching up with a finger to try and smooth those lines away.

"You'll get wrinkles that way," she told him quietly, "Immortal or not, you can still get wrinkles, and I don't think they'd suit you all that well, do you?"

"I do not think they would, no," he murmured, giving the smallest of smiles as he gently circled her wrist with his fingers, drawing her hand away from his forehead, "So perhaps you could go take that bath I was suggesting and at least _try _to unwind."

"What is so important about me taking a bath?" she had to ask, a little amused and slightly annoyed with his persistence, "You treat it like it is some magical cure for my worry."

"Queen Meghan often takes baths when she is concerned or upset," he explained in his low voice, brushing his soft lips over her knuckles so she felt butterflies soaring in her gut. "I thought that perhaps it is a way that you humans try to heal your mind."

"You take baths, don't you?" she asked him, a little bewildered and unsteady as he turned her hand over to brush a kiss over the inside of her wrist.

"I do," he agreed, blinking silver eyes at her.

"And why do you take them?" she asked.

"To get clean, I would hope," he said, the faintest smirk toying with the edges of his mouth as he pressed a kiss to the center of her palm.

"But do they ever calm you down when you're worried or upset?" she ventured, trying to keep her head from spinning like a top as every caress of his lips sent little darts of fire shooting off in her bloodstream.

"I am never worried," he replied succinctly, "Or, at least I have never been before now."

"What changed?" she asked, tilting her head slightly at him, a frown on her face.

"I didn't have anyone to worry about when I am not with them," he said softly, and her heart gave a rather loud thud as his molten silver eyes locked on hers, "Or even when I _am _with them, but you seem to have triggered a new sense in me, so perhaps I will have to experiment with that soon. I would rather like not to have to worry so often, but I would sooner worry knowing it meant I was thinking of you than not."

That had to be the most seductive pick-up line she had ever heard…Damn him for that, how did he _do _that?! Wasn't she trying to be upset and worried and all the rest of it? She was supposed to be thinking about Cat and how she needed to be there for Cat, but all of a sudden she was having some trouble thinking about anything but how Tertius's eyes seemed to be causing a volcanic effect somewhere in her chest, sending her heart pounding and lava trickling through her veins so she felt all of a sudden very hot, all over.

"I need to take a bath," she mumbled then, feeling her cheeks burn red as she slipped her hand out of his, feeling her skin tingle from where his lips had touched.

"That would be a good idea," he agreed, stepping back and gesturing towards the door as she turned swiftly away from him.

She glanced back at him once as she pushed through the bathroom door, and, finding his burning silver eyes boring into her she cleared her throat, stepped through the door, and pushed it firmly shut behind her, leaning back against it with one hand over her heart and the other over her face as she slumped to the floor, breathing hard through her nose.

"How the hell," she muttered to herself, feeling her face burning beneath her fingertips, "Does he fucking _do _that?!"

She really wished she knew, because she would do it right back to him if she could. It wasn't fair that he was the one who could get her all hot and bothered, though she would never admit it in those words, even under threat of death, and she couldn't even begin to get him to feel even a little flustered. Or, at least that's what she thought…

On the other side of the door, gazing thoughtfully ahead of him, Tertius didn't quite notice he was being scrutinized until he finally turned away from the bathroom with a sigh to find Glitch giving him a rather deliberate smirk from the wall.

Tertius's eyebrows shot up as he met his comrade's amused violet gaze, but Glitch merely smirked even more broadly than before, shook his head once and looked in a different direction, feigning interest in a small carving on the wall next to him.

"What, Glitch?" Tertius inquired, walking slowly over to drop into one of the stools at the round dining table situated in the miniscule kitchen area.

"I didn't say anything," Glitch said, and Tertius had to resist the urge to glare as he realized his friend was pulling the ignorance card.

"No, but you were most certainly thinking something, and I for one would love to hear what it was," Tertius informed him curtly, narrowing silver eyes at his companion, who snickered in spite of himself. "Out with it, Glitch, what is so funny at a time like this?"

"You seduced her into taking a bath," Glitch told him, clearly amused at the thought, shaking his head as he chortled.

"I did no such thing," said Tertius coldly, glaring.

"You did so, even if you don't realize it," Glitch argued, still grinning, "You might not have been trying to seduce her into the bathroom, but that's sure as hell how it worked. She could barely keep her feet. You can't tell me you couldn't see the steam coming off her face when you gave her those pretty little bedroom eyes of yours."

He batted his lashes for dramatic emphasis, laughing when Tertius gave him a disgusted look.

"You have no shame," Tertius informed him, still grimacing as he turned away from his partner.

"Neither do you, apparently, but I don't get on your case about it," Glitch told him, chuckling under his breath.

"That is different, you have no shame regarding other people," Tertius told him, sighing.

"And you have no shame seducing Trinity, who, shockingly, is _another person_," Glitch said with a gasp of feigned shock, to which Tertius merely glared at him. "Alright, Tertius, lighten up, man, you know I'm just playing with you."

Tertius did know, of course, but at the moment he was still a little wound up to really be thinking about it. There was just so much on his mind now that hadn't been there before, and he hadn't really considered until that exact moment just how truthfully he had told Trinity that he had never had anything to worry about before now. Where before he had only considered the problems ahead of him as an obstacle that required him to overcome it, he now saw the problems before him like a hideous beast that could render him into strips if he miss stepped. He had real concerns to think of, like Catherine's collapse, and Trinity's fear. Things he had never contemplated that would ever concern him before. But they did now…and if it were not for the fact that he was so intent on trying to figure out how to fix these problems, he would probably detest the fact he had anything to worry about.

For the longest time, he had been a knight, doing his duties as ordered without any type of hindrance to keep him from accomplishing his tasks. He had never stopped to think over the different things that could go wrong, only assessing them as they came and adjusting to meet whatever new need happened along. But things were different now. Now he had someone else involved, someone he worried for… If Trinity hadn't been involved in this from the beginning, he would probably be the same person he had always been, but that wasn't who he was anymore. He might still be a knight, but he was no longer detached from his surroundings, a silent observer. He was now a participant in the plays going on around him, and he felt he finally understood what Trinity had been telling him before about she couldn't just stand by and watch things like this happen, even if she had no other alternative.

Already, he was frustrated with his inability to fix the problems at hand. He felt useless, helpless even, and that kind of powerlessness left him burning with resentment. He was not used to being thwarted, and even when he was it was for a very good reason. This time was not the same. He was being kept at bay, and for a totally unacceptable reason. He did not like hearing there was nothing to be done, though before now he might have accepted that statement as it was and gone on with his life, but here, now, seeing Trinity struggling in the midst of her pain and fear for Catherine, he felt it was a blasphemy of some kind to idly step back and agree with the philosophy that there was nothing they could do, even if he himself had to be the one to say it. It really felt like a betrayal, and he detested it. Even if he could not do anything for Catherine, he felt he should at least be able to do something for Trinity, but he couldn't. He could only sit, and watch. Of course, he had always sat and watched, and it had never pestered him, but now it made him itch to get up and do something. Anything at all… Why the hell could he not do something to help Trinity?

"You have your think face on," murmured Glitch quietly to his left, stirring him from his reverie. "I can see the wheels turning, Tertius, and they're jammed. If you keep working yourself like that, you'll only overheat."

"I can't just sit here like this," sighed Tertius, lifting a hand to cover his tired eyes, taking momentary relief in the pitch blackness as he jammed the heel of his hands into his eyes, watching white stars wink and dance across his vision.

"I know what you mean, but there's nothing we can do for now," Glitch murmured, and Tertius felt a stab of annoyance to hear those words.

"I am also growing very tired of having to hear those words," he murmured to Glitch, who frowned at his comrade as Tertius finally dropped his hands from his eyes, "Even when I say them, they make me sick. How long will I have to keep telling Trinity that? That there is nothing we can do?"

"Not forever," Glitch reassured him, "But it is the only answer we can give for now. Until we find Wrath, that is all we can say, because that is all we can do."

Tertius didn't reply, feeling too annoyed to think he would manage anything really wise or helpful, and simply settled for brooding in silence until a quiet movement in the doorway of Catherine's room had him lifting his head to see Puck appearing in the room, Nikki cradled in his arms. The girl had her eyes closed, and she looked to be asleep, but Puck was speaking softly to her under his breath, and she answered back, though as quietly as they were speaking Tertius couldn't quite make out just what the two were talking about, and a moment later he lost sight of them as Puck carried Nikki away into another of the adjoined bedrooms, knocking the door shut behind him with a bare foot. He found himself frowning after them, feeling a small tug in his heart that he didn't quite understand. Perhaps it was envy, he thought dully, sighing and lowering his silver eyes to the table in front of him, not really seeing it. For as long as he'd known the little troupe, it had been easy to see from the start that Puck and Nikki had something together, even before they themselves really knew it. Puck was there for Nikki when she needed him, and he made her laugh and smile.

Tertius supposed he was envious that he couldn't do that for Trinity, despite how easy it should have been. Puck could easily do something so simple for Nikki, even in a time like this when nothing else could be done he was there for her, and she let him be there. Trinity let Tertius be there, but in his way he felt it wasn't quite the same. He wanted to do more for her than what he was, and he didn't seem to be doing it at all. He was just…there…and she almost seemed to be as alone as if he weren't. Sure, he suspected there was more comfort with him there than if he weren't, but looking at Trinity, seeing the strong, independent woman she was, even when she was on the verge like this, made him feel as though he wasn't quite the supportive beam she needed. She could easily handle herself, even at the times when he felt like he should tell her otherwise, but she was strong. The daughter of a powerful and very revered general, and even if she didn't think she lived up to her father's legacy, Tertius could plainly see that she outstripped her father in ways no other fey could ever have hoped to. So where did that leave him, really?

Did a woman as powerful and willful as that really have room for someone like him? Before, he'd thought he was strong, powerful, dependable, even, but now he kind of felt belittled. He knew it wasn't through anyone's fault or insecurities but his own that he felt that way, because Trinity would never purposely do something like that to anyone. He wasn't going to be presumptuous enough to say "especially him" though his mind almost automatically did it for him, but he managed to stop himself just short of he thought, shaking it off. He knew Trinity cared for him, but they hadn't known each other very long yet, and seen each other even less. This was actually the first time since the venture to find Catherine—when they had first met—that he'd been able to physically see her outside of the boundaries of Arcadia. He didn't quite count Elysium as seeing her because then they'd been under the eyes of Oberon and the rest of the Summer Court, and he hadn't been able to be as close to her as he'd wished. But here was different. They could be close here, outside of the watchful, hounding eyes of the courts, but it almost felt as though, in a way, the closeness had put them farther apart, at least in respects of their capabilities.

He knew his strengths, his abilities…what he could and couldn't do… He didn't know Trinity… He thought he might have gotten a glimpse of the power in her when they'd met before, but he knew he was wrong now. She was strong, stronger than he'd thought, and it left him a little bereft. She was her father's daughter, after all, he thought wearily. And her mother's daughter. He hadn't ever met either of her parents, but he'd heard enough about her father to fill several books, and he felt that anything she hadn't gained from one parent had to have been borrowed from the other, and from the looks of it her mother was one very independent and willful woman, and had passed it on to her daughter. It was really rather intimidating.

Sure, he would be willing to bet that Trinity didn't feel at all as powerful or strong as he was imagining her now, but he could see differently. A lesser woman in her situation would have despaired at this point, and though Trinity had given in to a moment of grief and rage, that didn't make her ready to give up. She would never give up, no matter what, and that was where her power came from. Her will to keep going, in spite of everything, even in her darkest moments, like before, shone through, and it was sure to be an intimidating trait to anyone she came into contact with.

It sure as hell intimidated him…that much was certain at this point. He smiled slightly to himself, still with his head bowed slightly, his black bangs falling into his eyes as he looked unseeingly at the table in front of him. Yes, she intimidated him…he would be foolish not to be even a little intimidated by her. Anyone would be foolish not to be. And yet, he could think of one person in the world right now who was not in the least bit afraid or even respectfully aware of Trinity as a powerful force, and that would be the very man that was so threatening to her, and her friends. Rowan… The Prince didn't know the kind of power Trinity could wield, not just in the glamour sense, but in the sense of her willpower and her emotions. She could be as lethal as Titania or Mab if she wanted to be, and with Rowan now her sworn enemy, it wouldn't be long before the Prince went head-to-head with her, not just to combat her abilities, but because she was the daughter of the very man he had slaughtered.

The Prince held it as a great accomplishment to his name, but everyone else—including the Prince's own mother—knew it was no great victory. It had been an ambush in the midst of a chaotic war, and Rowan had not gone in alone, knowing he would fail. He had taken twenty of his best Thornguards with him, and cornered the wounded General. No one knew the specifics of the General's death other than Rowan and his Thornguards, all but two of whom had perished in the final battle with the Great General, and none of them had ever disclosed the information, at least not outside of Tir Na Nog. Rowan may boast that he defeated Astrid, but he had never said just precisely how he had done it, which, to Tertius, said it had been underhanded, and no one would tolerate it if they ever found out how he had managed to kill the General outside of overwhelming him with numbers.

But even without that knowledge, Rowan had given Trinity more than enough incentive to wish his death, and made her furious enough that—if she were given the chance—she would end his life. She might not be able to do it on her own, at least not now, as she was, but Tertius suspected if she was put in the same room with Rowan, and Catherine was placed between them, and someone made to remind Trinity about how Rowan had killed her father in cold blood, that she would not hesitate to take up arms against the bastard Prince.

And if Rowan was not wise enough to acknowledge that potential danger to himself now, Tertius was quite sure it would become the Prince's undoing in the long run. He had made himself many enemies by messing with one girl, and if he couldn't grasp that, or at least understand that in doing so he was ensuring himself an early end, then there was the huge likelihood he would be blindsided when Fate finally decided it was time for him to reap all that he had sowed.

The closing of a door stirred him again, and he lifted hazy silver eyes, looking around, thinking for a moment that Trinity had emerged from the bathroom, but it was only Puck, appearing from the bedroom where he had settled Trinity. The Summer fey was now leaning back against the door, pushing a hand wearily through his auburn hair, his tired emerald eyes fixed on the floor under his feet, as though he didn't quite understand why it was there. Tertius watched him for a moment, wondering if Nikki was already asleep, and then Puck looked up and met his curious gaze, and gave a wan smile.

"Yo," he greeted the Iron Knight, waving a hand lamely as he pushed off the door and trudging over to drop into a seat across the table.

"Is Nicolette asleep?" Tertius asked, and Puck nodded his head, sighing.

"Took me a while to convince her to, 'cause she wanted to stay with Cat, same as Trinity, but Demon managed to help me get her to go to bed. She won't be happy with either of us later, I figure once she's had time to rest and get her temper and strength back up, but for now it's best for her," the fey murmured, his expression a mixture of sorrow and exhaustion as he looked across the table at Tertius, who was gazing into his lap. "How 'bout you? Trinity sleeping?"

"No," sighed Tertius, shaking his head in weary defeat. "She wouldn't listen to me at all on the matter. She is bathing right now, but she will sit with Catherine as soon as she comes out."

"I doubt that," said Puck with a secretive little grin that didn't touch his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Tertius asked, now bemused as he lifted his gaze to scrutinize the fey's knowing smirk.

"Demon locked the door when we left," the fiery headed fey explained, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the now closed bedroom door behind which Catherine and Demon still were. "Said it was best for Trinity and Nikki if they didn't sit there all night fretting about the issue and that he'd unlock it when Cat woke up, otherwise they'll just pester the hell out of him and only wear themselves out and then when Cat wakes up we'll have to wait for the pair of them to get back into shape before we can go anywhere and he's not about to let this mission get compromised no matter how pissed off the two of them are going to be with him later. I just hope Tri knows enough not to go hammering on the bedroom door when she comes out."

"I would not bet on that," Glitch said lightly from his corner. "I don't really like the odds of her not going AWOL on the cat for pulling a stunt like that, and even if by a miracle she doesn't break the door down she's sure to give him a proper neutering once all's said and done."

"Lovely mental image there," said Puck with a grimace at the idea of Demon getting his little man parts—well, he just wouldn't think about that. "Though, all things considered now, since he's a full grown human man and all that, wouldn't it be considered a vasectomy?"

"Either way, it'll suck to be him," Glitch said with a lame shrug, and Puck and Tertius nodded their total agreement of the statement. "Though I'm confused about why he's staying in there with Catherine when he could just as easily lock the door and evaporate in and out of the room at will. Or is he playing permanent watchdog for the night?"

"I think the last thing you said," said Puck with a mighty yawn, stretching his long arms over his head and arching his back, causing several resounding pops as his spine snapped back into its proper positioning. "And I also think he feels super guilty over this, if you want my honest opinion."

"Your honest opinion isn't always your knowledgeable one," Glitch told him, smirking when Puck gave him a dirty look.

"Fine, then," said Puck with a rather petulant look on his face, "If you want my _knowledgeable _opinion, _and _my honest one, is that our little Furball back there got a slap in the face today with what happened back there. He saw Cat in pain this morning, sure, but this was way worse than that, because she's actually blacked out because of however bad her pain was. He knew she was hurt before, but I don't think he got the full view of _how _hurt she was until now. And now he's having to face that he wasn't there for her, even though I don't think anyone holds him responsible for last night save a couple people—one of those people being himself—the other remaining unnamed, and that this is the consequence of that. And the even worse part is knowing he can't do anything for her except hurry up and get her to Wrath, who may or may not have an answer for all of this shit, assuming we can even find the bastard in the first place."

So, Tertius hadn't been the only thinking those thoughts. At least he was glad to know that Puck was on the same page as him for once.

"I just hope Wrath _does _have an answer," Glitch muttered, his violet eyes narrowed at the floor. "Because if he doesn't, I get the feeling no amount of promising and vowing is going to keep Nik and Trinity from tearing Rowan limb from limb."

"For once, we agree," said Puck with a harsh laugh, not at all like his usual merriment, and he and Glitch exchanged a similarly dangerous look, and Puck gave one of his more predatory smiles, as though he could already imagine seeing Rowan writhing in pain. "To be honest, I might just join in that little mosh pit. It's not like Rowan doesn't owe me a few good punches to his pretty face."

"Get in line," Glitch said with a dark smirk. "You can cut in front of me, but you're behind Tri and Nik, though I think if anyone gets to take the bastard down, it deserves to be Catherine."

"Much as I love Cat," said a tired voice, sounding darkly amused, "She wouldn't lay a hand on Rowan even after all the shit he's pulled. She's too tender hearted, and I mean it in the best way."

Trinity moved into their line of sight, her damp ivory hair now dark gold beneath the towel she had wrapped it up in, though some tendrils still hung loose, dangling in her face as she stepped up beside Tertius, now dressed in a pair of loose black sweatpants and a dark red t-shirt. Tertius had to wonder briefly to himself just how a woman could dress so vulnerably and still look ready to take down an army stupid enough to get in her way, but somehow Trinity managed it, even with her sopping wet and a distinct tiredness about her. Maybe it was the way she put her hands on her hips and stood with such authority, gazing around her in an almost challenging manner. He wondered if she was even aware of it, or if it just came naturally. He decided he'd have to pay more attention from now on.

"How was your bath?" he asked her lightly as she took the seat immediately to his right, catching the faint scent of lavender that seemed to be coming off of her hair.

"It was nice," she said off handedly, casting him a secretly amused look. "I'm clean, though I'm still tense as a wire. Any other bright relaxation ideas?"

"Aromatherapy?" suggested Glitch with a smirk.

"Ha ha, you're funny," Trinity told him, rolling her blue eyes. "Try again."

"You could always go for that Reiki thing I keep hearing about," Puck told her, reclining in his seat, knocking it back on two legs. "All that spiritual cleansing and stuff sounds pretty good for someone as wound up as you've got to be right now, Tri."

Glitch found himself resisting the temptation to go over and deliberately knock the remaining legs out from under the fey just for craps and giggles, though he kept a thoughtful eye on the tipped back faery.

"Right now, I don't think anything could help me relax," Trinity admitted with a tired sigh, dropping her chin onto her hand as she propped her elbow on the table, frowning down at the polished wood surface.

"Oh ho, then you do not know me," said Puck then, rising to his feet with a grin on his face, striding around the table to stand behind her, dropping his hands to her shoulders before anyone could understand what was happening. "Now, just relax, think happy thoughts. Like…Rowan dead…Rowan dismembered…Rowan bleeding and crying like a bitch…"

In spite of herself, Trinity smiled, but turned and slapped Puck's hands away so he stepped back with a rather startled look.

"I'll think happy thoughts," she told him, "But you're not massaging my shoulders."

"¿Por qué no?" he demanded, looking affronted.

"Because that's just all kinds of awkward having my best friend's guy putting his hands on me," she told him with a little smirk.

"You and your insinuative little imagination," Puck chastised her, brandishing a finger at her so she cocked an ivory eyebrow at him.

"I'm just saying it like it is, sir," she told him, shrugging a slender shoulder. "And could you stop pointing at me like that, you look like my grade school teacher when she got mad at me."

"A teacher? Get mad at you?" asked Glitch as Puck took his seat again. "Wow, and I thought you were some kind of saint. What'd you do to make an elementary school teacher mad? Bring a lamb to school or something?"

"You are sooo funny," she said sarcastically, and he smirked. "No, I actually finger painted, just not on paper."

"Ah, that explains it," said Puck, nodding wisely. "I never did understand why they restricted kids to paper, though. Let imagination prosper I say! Even if it means ruining the good walls and carpet!"

Trinity gave a little snort of amusement, and rolled her blue eyes at the ceiling.

"You're an idjit," she told Puck, who flashed her his trademark grin.

"Glad you noticed," he said with a wink. "Oh, and before it slips my ickle brain, you won't be getting back in Cat's room tonight unless she wakes up."

"I heard," she said, and her tone dropped several degrees so that all three men around her found themselves shivering despite the warmth of the cabin. "Demon better have a damn good reason for that when he comes out later."

"Demon isn't coming out later," Puck advised her, "He's staying there all night, so he said. If he has to relieve himself in the middle of the night, I'm not sure what he'll do, since he can't quite fit into the litter box like he used to. Maybe he'll squat."

"You are appalling and disgusting," Trinity said, making a disgusted face so Puck laughed. "That's not funny, Puck, that's just…ew…just ew!"

"You understand why Demon is doing it, though," Tertius murmured, and Trinity turned to him, "Why he won't let you, or Nicolette, back in the room."

"Yeah," she murmured, lowering her sapphire eyes to the table, the smallest flicker of sorrow passing through the cerulean depths, "I get it, but it doesn't mean I like it."

"Eh, well, Demon isn't about liking things," Puck sighed, stretching, once more knocking his chair back on two legs and tempting fate as Glitch barely managed to quash the urge to leap up and knock the chair from beneath him.

"Unless it's Cat," said Trinity with a pointed look at the fey. "You notice he's more than a little taken with her, right?"

"He's her guardian," said Puck dismissively, waving an airy hand, but Trinity wasn't convinced.

"Guardians don't snuggle up in bed with their wards on a daily basis," she told him curtly, "Not to mention how often he hangs around her, or how pissed off he gets when someone gets close to her when they shouldn't. Not that Nikki and I don't do that, too, but he's a little different about it."

"Now that you mention it," said Puck, a thoughtful look coming onto his face as he gazed at the wooded ceiling over his head, "I kind of get where you're coming from on that, not to mention he could be jealous about that whole thing with Sage…"

"What thing with Sage?" Trinity demanded at once, her blue eyes widening.

Puck turned to stare at her, equally shocked. "He didn't tell you yet?"

"Tell me what yet?" Trinity's expression darkened visibly, and Puck had to restrain the urge to cringe away from her suddenly menacing aura.

"He said he was going to tell you," he said lamely, glancing over at the door behind which Demon was sure to be, though he didn't know how much of this conversation the Cait Sith was hearing. "He has this loco idea that Cat might be in love with Sage and that's why she's been so weird when he's around, among other things. From the way he put it, he thinks she might have confessed her love for him or some mess like that when she was with Sage that one night before she came back to Spindle's a while back. I, of course, and very honestly, am not sure if I believe it, and have told Nikki and Demon the same thing I'm about to tell you. If Cat hasn't said it for herself, I don't think we need to be jumping to conclusions about it. I just brought it up because of the fact that if Demon has a little crush on Cat, he might just be making assumptions out of jealousy."

He put his hands up as he finished, as though wiping them clean of the whole affair, and finished, "That's all I'm saying."

"Well, you've said an awful lot, all things considered," observed Glitch while Trinity merely sat there, her mouth hung open in shock. "And where the hell is he getting that she's in love with him from? The hell kind of sense does that make?"

"He had some points he made, I don't remember all of them," said Puck with a shrug, rolling his green eyes at the ceiling. "Just the one where he was talking about she was with him for a night and could have confessed her love and he turned her away and now she's all distraught about it is the one I remember. He'd explain it better, so please don't go getting your panties in a twist about this yet, Tri, because I can see the look in your eyes and it tells me you're about to be hella angry with someone."

And it was true. Trinity had that dangerous gleam in her eyes, the one that said hell was about to be raised and paid if she didn't get answers, and she turned that steely look right onto Catherine's bedroom door. Puck uttered a little prayer as she rose to her feet, pushing her chair forcefully back from the table, and striding clear across the room in a matter of seconds to stand in front of the door. Glitch almost expected her to hammer a fist on it, just for emphasis, but received a mild surprise when she took a deep breath, apparently bottling up her present anger, and gently rapped the door with her knuckles.

"What?" Demon's tired voice called from the other side, not quite as firm as it usually was so much as subdued.

"Open the door, Demon," Trinity said.

There was a pause.

"You need to rest, Trinity, being in here will not help—" Demon began, but Trinity cut him off.

"Just when were you going to tell me about Sage and Cat?" she snapped through the door, and there was instant silence on Demon's end.

No doubt the Cait Sith had been shocked into silence by her words, and it took a few long moments—nearly a minute—before he appeared suddenly in the main room, just behind Trinity, his face drawn and weary as she wheeled around to face him.

"Is now really a good time?" he asked her softly, his yellow-green eyes narrowing.

"Better than later," she said, her tone clipped, her blue eyes flashing fire at him. "You should have told me before."

"There was no good time to do it before," he told her. "Otherwise I would have. I assume Goodfellow has already given you the quick and dirty version of what I have told him and Nicolette."

"More like first line in a book," she told him stiffly, "So I'd kind of appreciate it if you could skip the bull and just tell me what you think is going on."

"Didn't I say we shouldn't jump to conclusions?" asked Puck wearily. "We don't even have Cat's input on this, and she doesn't even know he's got this thing circulating around the group. If you're mad at him now, Tri, imagine how she's going to feel if she gets wind of this."

That gave Trinity enough reason to pause, and Demon as well, and they both turned as one to look at Puck, who was rocking back in his chair, feet balanced on the table, arms dangling to the floor on either side of him. He had his eyes on the ceiling, but it was clear he was much more attentive to the four people now staring at him as he continued to balance his chair precariously on its two legs.

"I'm just saying," he said, putting his hands up as he made eye contact briefly with Trinity and Demon, "Demon, I know you've got a lot of observation going on around Cat, and maybe something's going on with her and Sage, and I know you said she kind of admitted it herself, but you could at least do her the courtesy of telling her—whenever she wakes up—whether or not what you're saying is true. Because if you get everyone thinking like this, and she comes out and says something entirely different on the issue, then it's going to make Tri and Nik look bad and feel bad if they ended up believing you, even for a little bit, especially if Cat finds out. I almost feel like doing this says you don't trust her to just come out about it on her own sometime. I know she's taking a while getting there, but I thought the whole thing with the three of you, Tri, was that you trust each other, even if you don't like what one or two of you are doing at the time."

Now Trinity felt guilty, realizing there was more truth to his words than she had originally given them credit for, and she suddenly couldn't look at anyone, so she fixated on her toes instead. She knew she should trust Cat, and she did, but she was also frustrated as hell that Catherine hadn't been telling her anything—and still wasn't as far as her changed behavior and emotions were concerned. And if Demon had even the slightest idea as to what might be going on with Cat, she wanted to listen, even if it ended up being a load of crap. Because then at least she might have something to go on. But she knew that wasn't fair to Cat at all. Even if Demon hadn't come up with the idea meaning to hurt Cat, that's what it would do if she found out they'd been talking about something like this behind her back. Like Puck said, at the very least, they should tell her what they were thinking. After all, hadn't she been the one to kind of admit that her unusual moods and everything else were partially Sage's fault? She remembered that much at least. Because Demon had asked once if it had anything to do with Sage, regardless of what it was, and Cat had said yes.

They hadn't questioned her about what Sage exactly was responsible for, they just knew he was, in some way, related to the issues going on with Cat, and they had been okay with just hearing that. But now Trinity wanted to know more…but did Demon really know more, or was he just making guesses like she and Nikki had been for the past couple of weeks?

"I don't even know," she murmured, feeling her throat close a little as guilt and uncertainty gnawed at her, "I just…I want to know what's going on with her…I can't help if I don't know!"

"I'm not saying anything that I know," Demon told her softly, "Other than what I have seen and what I think it could mean. It is not a solid truth, but it is not entirely a lie, only my suspicions. It is as Goodfellow says, I do not have anything more than what I think to support what I say, and, really, I should have seen before now that this was unfair to Catherine…but the damage is done."

Yeah, it was, she thought bitterly. Now she was torn between hearing him out and risking the chance of becoming totally biased to Catherine's current state or not hearing him out and being even more frustrated than before because she would know that he had ideas that could possibly be reality. So what the hell did she do about it?

"Just," she began, then paused, unsure, and took a deep breath before forcing herself to continue, "Just tell me the basis of all this…What are the main reasons you think she could be in love with Sage? Puck already told me you think so because of the way she's been acting around him, but what the hell does that even mean? I've seen her around him, and the only thing I saw was her crying, but that doesn't tell me a whole lot other than she didn't want to be there."

"When I explained it to Goodfellow and Nicolette, I mentioned that Catherine is always more withdrawn around Prince Sage, and they pointed out to me that she is always withdrawn, but the point I was attempting to make is that around new people, or even those she is uncertain of, she is shy, but not withdrawn. Around Sage, she pulls in on herself, like she is trying to defend herself from something, like her emotions. When he came to apologize to her in place of Rowan last night, I could see that she did the same thing, shutting herself off. You cannot tell me you didn't entirely miss it, either. Having been her friend for so long, you might not have realized it was a particular person causing it, but you saw her reaction; at least subconsciously noticed it," Demon murmured quietly, his yellow-green eye scrutinizing Trinity's face as she gazed down at the floor beneath her feet.

She was trying to recall that moment back to her, when she and Nikki had finally gotten to see Catherine after the main part of Elysium, when everyone had been in the room. She remembered when she'd first seen Cat, Cat had burst into tears at seeing them, and they'd hugged and had their little reunion. And then…then what had happened? She closed her eyes, trying to remember. It shouldn't have been this hard just a night after the fact, but so much had gone on that it had been hard to keep up even then.

They'd had a little talk, just stupid jokes about how they'd avoided killing Rowan despite all he'd done, and then Trinity had gotten mad again because she wanted to be sure Rowan would pay for his crimes. And Sage had spoken up, and…she tried hard to remember how Catherine had reacted, because Trinity hadn't been looking at her friend when Sage had been speaking but now that she thought back on it, she remembered feeling Catherine tense in her arms, though she hadn't really thought on it until now. Catherine hadn't even really spoken to Sage, though the Prince had been speaking directly to her the entire time, she had even gone so far as to say "Thank you" to him, though Trinity knew that was just her habit. But Catherine had slowly gotten better about not thanking anyone outside of their little circle of friends, not since they'd come to Faery… But she had thanked Sage… And there had been something else, not so much about Catherine, but in the Prince's eyes as he'd looked at Catherine. A kind of flicker that hadn't really bothered Trinity until now, and she recalled then that as the Prince had fixed his green eyes on Catherine, the girl had shivered just the slightest bit in Trinity's and Nikki's arms.

"That," Trinity murmured shakily, opening her eyes, feeling her heart beginning to pick up speed, "Doesn't necessarily mean anything…"

She didn't even sound convincing to herself, but no one else in the room called her out on it, and Demon merely continued in a low murmur,

"The other instances I thought of that seemed especially symbolic to me of what could possibly be the cause for Catherine's pain and everything else before last night happened much earlier in our arrival to Arcadia. You found out last night that she was taking nightshade to enable her to sleep, but before a certain period of time, almost exactly a month ago today, she had not needed it."

"And what period of time did she start needing it after?" Trinity asked in a slightly tremulous voice.

"The day after we left Tir Na Nog the second time," Demon murmured, and Trinity felt her heart plummet, "After Prince Sage had assisted us in hiding from his mother and Rowan before, when they were still hunting for us. It was immediately following that that she needed the nightshade, though for a full week she didn't take it at first. It was only when she ventured off on her own and ran into Prince Sage, who took her back to his Lodge and gave her the nightshade, that she finally accepted that she needed it again. Though I didn't know until after we left Spindle's that even after taking the full dose before we left that she still required it. And when we arrived in Arcadia, she continued to need it, and I supplied it."

"Tell her about the dreams," Puck murmured from his seat, gazing solemnly at the ceiling.

Demon glanced over at the fey, their eyes locking momentarily as Puck chanced a look back at the Cait Sith, and after a small sigh he nodded as he looked back at Trinity.

"Nightshade is meant to render the taker to be totally asleep, without dreams or other disturbances to keep their minds and bodies from receiving the fullest recovery," he explained quietly, "No matter how large or small a dose, whoever has taken it should not be able to have dreams while they are under its full influence. Stirrings upon awakening are normal, but Catherine took nightshade night after night and continued to have dreams, most of them nightmares, even before the nightshade had worn off. Her worst nightmare woke her entirely from the induced sleep, and she refused to go back to sleep afterwards that night. Not only that, but I had heard her say the Prince's name in her sleep. Aside from that and the other things I have just mentioned to you, the last point I can think to make on my thoughts is that—while you and Nicolette made sure to ask whether or not she had been assaulted or raped by Pringe Sage, and her answer was no—she did not ever say he did not touch her at all. She has been in the Nevernever long enough to learn how to evade the truth without lying, and you two never thought to ask her whether any contact was voluntarily initiated between them. While I can assure you that they never went to bed together, that possibility is still there."

Trinity felt sick all of a sudden, and had to quickly seat herself in one of the arm chairs before her head's spinning made her knees give out. Dropping her head into her hands, she closed her eyes and tried hard not to panic, or to let Demon's words overwhelm her. She should have gone without listening to him, she thought dismally, because now there was no way she could be unbiased about Catherine's dilemma. Everything he said made sense to her, and she hated that. She'd rather he'd made stupid, unreasonable points she could combat with her own knowledge of Catherine, but she had nothing. She couldn't even accuse him of lying about some of his other evidence that she didn't personally know about, because he couldn't lie to her at all. Everything he'd experienced was real, and everything he thought was substantiated by at least one solid fact of his, and she loathed it. She might not loathe him for it, but she despised the logic he was using. Because it made sense, and she didn't want it to.

Wasn't it bad enough that Rowan had wounded Catherine the way he had? Now she had to worry that perhaps his bastard of a brother had done something similar to her, just through her emotions instead of her physical being? How much more would the Winter royalty take away from her friend? How much more pain would it cause her before they were satisfied? Mab had imprisoned Catherine, Rowan had tortured her, and now it sounded like for all the world like Sage had broken her heart…

"Do you," she began weakly, but stopped to swallow the sudden lump in her throat before she could continue to ask Demon, "Do you think…hypothetically let's say she _is _in love with him, does he know about it?"

"I think it would be safe to say yes," Demon murmured, "Which is why he wouldn't let her go at Elysium last night, as Nicolette made to tell me."

"Could he love her back?" she asked, her head coming up at once, all of a sudden eager, but Demon's empty expression froze her heart.

"No, I do not think so," he murmured softly, his yellow-green eyes dark and unfathomable, "Prince Sage does not care for the emotions of others, particularly women. He has been surrounded by females for centuries as they fawned over him. I think his only motivation would be to understand why she loves him. He is an intellectual, he lives to find answers and understand things around him, and as Nicolette and Goodfellow were asking me this morning about how she could possibly be in love with him after such brief encounters, the answer to why he would want to understand Catherine's love is that it baffles him even more so than it does us, assuming, of course, that she does in fact feel that way for him."

"But we don't know if she does," Puck pointed out very quietly from the table, and Trinity looked over to see the fiery headed fey giving Demon a rather stern look, "Sure, it's possible, but I'm not about to jump the gun on this one. We haven't asked Cat, and she isn't ready to talk to us yet, so I'm not pushing. It might not be my place to say it, but if we were really her friends, I feel we'd be doing her a better service than this, sneaking around her back and spreading rumors. I'm not saying you don't have good points, cat, but this is still just a load of bull to me right now. Until I hear it from Cat, I'm not buying it."

Demon did not respond to him, but he did not particularly need to. He already knew full and well where Puck stood on this issue, and he was not about to try and change his mind. Truthfully, he wished he could have taken the faery's side from the beginning and known to keep his mouth shut, and not to jump to conclusions as he had, but, as he had said before. The damage was done…

"But what if she is?" Trinity whispered, staring at Puck. "Puck, what if he's screwed her over just as badly as his brother has, just with her emotions instead of her body? What then?"

Puck frowned, feeling both sorrowful and a little frustrated. He could already tell that Trinity was being pulled in by Demon's words as much as Nikki had been at first, and that made it harder. He was really starting to wish he could take back everything the Cait Sith had told both her and Nikki earlier. If only he knew Demon was on the same exact mind path as he was, then they might have gotten along on something for once.

"Tri," he said gently, giving the girl a sympathetic look, "I wish I could tell you "what then", but right now I'm thinking of "what now". And now we don't even know if she _does _love him. I'm sorry…"

And he was. He wished he had a better answer than that, because he knew she'd want a better answer that what he had to give, but that was really what he had. For once, he was lost for words. That would have to go down in the books somewhere. The day in history that Robin Goodfellow, the one and only Robin Goodfellow, had been stumped. If it weren't for such a sorry reason, he might have felt the need to toast the occasion. But now was hardly the time for celebration and merriment.

"I just," Trinity murmured, lifting a hand to her head, attempting to run her fingers through her hair in agitation, but being stopped by the towel she still had wrapped around it. Pulling the sodden cloth from her hair, letting the still damp tresses fall in disarray around her face, she buried a hand in the ivory mass, pushing furiously through the slicked strands. "I just don't want to have to hear that another one of that family has screwed her over…! First Mab, then Rowan, and now if I hear Sage did something I just don't know what I'll do…!"

She'd probably go off on a crusade, she thought bitterly, charging off into Tir Na Nog and go raiding the entire palace with her father's army behind her. She knew it was stupid to even think she'd get away with that, but if she ever heard that the entire Royal family of the Unseelie Court had been the cause for her friend's anguish and sorrow, she would have their heads for it, one way or another. Even if it meant she could only tear them apart in the times they were face-to-face, and all she had were her words, she'd do it. Promise or no promise, and no matter what Catherine did or didn't feel for Sage, Trinity would make Mab and her sons wish they'd never even considered touching Catherine.

"It pisses me off," she hissed, now jamming the heels of her hands against her closed eyes, feeling the dull pain it brought, witnessing the explosion of white spots behind her eyelids, "It just really, really pisses me off… She should not have to go through this shit! Especially because of _them!_"

She was losing it again, she could feel it. Hysteria and rage were becoming living things, mingling into one chaotic emotion she couldn't even begin to think of a name for, and in spite of the whiteness appearing in the midst of the black behind her eyes, for a moment all she saw was red. Passionate, hateful, loathsome red, and it made her stomach roil as she imagined it was Rowan's blood, watching him suffer the same pain he'd forced Catherine to endure. Mab's blood, as she sat locked in a miniscule cell, enduring the humiliation and fear she'd stirred in Catherine's heart as she had sat in the confines of Tir Na Nog's dungeons. Sage's blood…bleeding right from his heart, just like he could have made Catherine's heart bleed… Trinity forced herself to stop there, before she could lose herself entirely and get ahead of her own thoughts. She still didn't know for certain if Catherine really loved Sage, or if Sage had even done anything to break her heart in such a way, but if he had, Trinity would make his ice cold heart weep blood for his sins.

A warm arm circling her shoulders made her start, and she lifted her head, meeting Tertius's silver eyes as he drew her under his shoulder, against his chest. There was a sad frown on his face, and pain in his eyes as he gazed at her, and she felt her heart give a painful throb to see him looking like that. He shouldn't have to look like she felt, wasn't it bad enough even one of them felt his kind of fury and pain?

"I'm sorry," she mumbled pathetically, and felt her eyes burn with unshed tears.

For a moment he blurred in her vision as the salty droplets welled up like high tide, pricking at the corners of her eyes until they finally leaked over. The warmth of his fingertips on her face, brushing them away, was the only thing that kept her grounded then, because in the next second she'd given herself over to silent tears, burying her face in his chest as he gently looped his arms around her, cradling her close to him so she could hear his steady heartbeat under her ear, feel it beneath her cheek.

"It will be alright," he murmured softly in her ear, his breath warm on her neck.

She nodded mutely, not knowing what else to do or say, and simply let herself cry, and he let her, even when the tears soaked through his shirt and damped his chest, he just sat there, cradling her, and let her cry. Puck and Glitch scooted out of the room to give them some privacy. Demon had already been gone before she had looked up, evaporating back into the room he now shared with Catherine.

Now left alone with her knight, Trinity let herself fall deeper and deeper, feeling the tears soaking her face, and the crushing feeling in her chest that felt like it was her heart, suffocating, until she couldn't fall anymore. Eventually, without even realizing it, she had cried herself out, and fallen asleep in Tertius's arms he continued to hold her, running his fingers gently through her still-damp ivory hair, his face eerily closed off as he gazed down at her sleeping figure, noting the tear stains on her cheeks, and the slight puffiness around her eyes. Every so often, she would take a shaky breath and exhale again, causing her entire body to tremble, and he would tighten his arms around her, pulling her further against the warmth of his chest. He lowered his dark head to hers, brushing his lips over her temple, murmuring softly in a language she wouldn't have understood if she were awake. Eventually, after she was deeply asleep, he gathered her into his arms, and carried her slowly to one of the remaining bedrooms, which was dark and small, like the others, with flickering candles on the walls, casting a soft glow around the room.

Gently, Tertius lowered Trinity to the bed, careful not to jostle her, lest he wake her up, and she didn't stir as she was placed on the soft mattress, and he drew the covers up over her. She didn't even twitch when he brushed another kiss over her damp cheek, and brushed her wet, silky hair from her face. He gazed down at her, feeling that increasingly familiar tug in his heart as he took the fringe of her ivory lashes, now encrusted with tears, like diamonds, and the redness of her cheeks and eyes. Reaching down, he brushed the pad of his thumb tenderly over her eyes, clearing them of the residue tears, using his sleeve to tend to the ones on her cheeks before straightening back up. She gave another shaky breath, but didn't stir, and with a small smile that did nothing to ease the clenching in his chest, he turned to go, resigning himself to the couch for the night. But just as he reached the door again, something tugged lightly on the back of his cloak, like he had caught it on something, and, turning back to inspect what had happened, it was to find Trinity looking up at him through groggy blue eyes. She had one hand slung over the edge of the bed, fisted in the hem of his cape, keeping him there.

"You're supposed to be asleep," he murmured quietly, stepping back and kneeling down by the edge of the bed, his silver eyes glowing in the light thrown from the candles.

"Stay," she mumbled, "And I'll sleep…"

He felt himself smile, feeling a little flicker of amusement as he gently lifted his hand to twine his fingers with hers as she released his cloak to seize his hand instead.

"You promise me you will sleep?" he asked her, leaning forward to press a kiss to her knuckles as she blinked sleepily back at him, her blue eyes hazy.

"Yes, I promise," she said, and he had to smile even more at how pleadingly she said it, almost like a child being bribed with a sweet of some kind.

"Alright," he murmured, rising slowly to his feet, momentarily slipping his hand from hers.

She gave a little whimper as she lost her grip on his hand, and he gave her a small smile as he drew his cloak from his shoulders.

"I am still here, Trinity," he reassured her, seating himself on the very edge of the bed, letting her take hold of his hand again while he used the other to unlace his boots and kick them off, "I am staying."

She mumbled incoherently under her breath, scooting over as he slipped into bed beside her, his eyes warm as he gazed down at her as she snuggled up against him, her head against his chest, still clutching his hand in both of hers. She gave a small sigh of contentment as he draped his free arm around her, and rested his head against hers, the pitch black of his hair a shocking contrast to the ivory of hers.

"Now, go to sleep," he murmured softly, nuzzling the top of her head, not minding the dampness under his chin. "You promised you would…"

"Mm," she mumbled, already halfway asleep as she listened to the steady beating of his heart, feeling comforted by it.

Tertius smiled in the dimness of the room, his silver eyes turning to molten mercury as he watched her doze off in his arms again, and after what felt like a long while of merely lying there, watching her drift in total slumber, for once protected from the fear and the pain and the worry and uncertainty, he, too, drifted away into the welcoming darkness. But even there, she waited for him, but she was not crying or raging now. As he greeted her in his dreams, she turned and beamed at him, a smile that lit up her sapphire eyes with such joy it made his heart ache with happiness, and in his dream, and even in his sleep, a smile of equal contentment appeared on his face as he drew her into his arms and bent his head to kiss her, for the moment happy to forget everything else…


	36. Chapter 36

Darkness. Impenetrable, silent, and overwhelming… She had once been afraid of the dark… Well, she couldn't really say _once _as though it had been something that had finally come to pass as she got older. No, she was still very much afraid though she had learned it wasn't of the dark, but the things that hid in it. The shadows and creatures that reached for her with claws and talons extended, their vicious, fanged smiles leering at her through the blackness around her. Coming up like demons from under her bed, groping for her, or out of her closet, their burning red eyes hungry and malevolent… Those creatures of the night, the things she couldn't see and couldn't control, or fight off when they latched onto her, those were what truly scared her.

Or they had before… She didn't fear them so much now… Certainly, they still frightened her, but she knew better than to think that the only monsters in the world that came out of the dark had fangs and bloodied hands, and high pitched, cackling laughs and venomous red eyes burning into her soul. Some monsters were tall, handsome, with brilliant blue eyes like the ones watching her now, and perfect smiles, showing pure white teeth like pearls, and the hands that reached for her didn't have claws, or talons, and they were not even covered in blood. But she feared those hands reaching out for her more than any night creature that could come for her, and as those cerulean eyes stared down at her through the darkness, and the long, slender hand reached out for her, she turned to run, but couldn't.

Her legs were paralyzed beneath her, and would not move, even when she reached down with her hands and tried to force them to, but there was ice over them, feeding back into the ground, trapping her, and she began to claw desperately at the black ice, tearing at it until her nails were broken and bleeding, and still it did not help her, and the hands continued to reach for her. A soft voice murmured in the darkness, speaking words she didn't understand, and she felt herself beginning to choke on terror as she looked up to see the face of a handsome fey, with glittering, ice blue eyes in a fair, pointed face. Jagged black hair stuck up on his head, and a silver stud gleamed in one long, pointed ear. His smile was soft as he flashed his too-white teeth at her, the picture of angelic beauty that would have made a Botticelli weep with envy, but she was not swayed by that inhuman beauty. No…that beauty terrified her…

That beauty, that could make mortal woman throw themselves from towers and men wage wars or fall to their knees in despair at their comparable ugliness, hid what she knew to be the most hideous monster, and as the tall sidhe drew nearer to her, his full lips moving as he spoke soft, alien words to her, she felt her heart wrench in panic, and she clawed all the more desperately at the ice binding her legs, only now it had crept up her arms, too, freezing them to her sides. Terror was a living thing in her now, making her heartbeat sound too loud in her ears as her heart thudded in a rapid tempo that left her breathless and choking on sobs and her own fear as the beautiful creature finally drew to a stop in front of her. His fair skin seemed luminous in the surrounding darkness, and his white trench coat was almost blinding as it billowed around him, making his eyes stand out even more brightly than before as he looked down at her, his expression almost tender, but she could see the blatant lust smoldering in those blue eyes, and it terrified her even more.

"Catherine," Rowan purred her name, and she felt a shudder creep all the way down her spine, like the chill of ice trailing along her back.

Her shoulder gave a hideous throb of pain, and she whimpered. Excitement flared in his eyes at the sound, and he pressed closer, an arm circling her waist, drawing her up against him, the ice encasing her immediately melting away, but she found she could not move to fight him as he pressed their bodies together. She felt sick at the contact, and her stomach gave a violent heave at the proximity to him, but in spite of her mind screaming at her body to move, she could not, and he dragged her to him, his arms locked around her waist, his lips moving softly against her ear, speaking in a low purr; his words soft and seductive, whispered promises of unearthly pleasure and carnal indulgence. All she had to do was say yes…Surrender to him.

Her shoulder burned and throbbed, the only real thing keeping her sane as she remained trapped in the darkness, immobile, locked in the sidhe Prince's arms as his lips skimmed down over her cheek, moving erotically over her skin, blazing a trail of fire everywhere he touched. She loathed it… She did not want this… She did not want to feel what he was making her feel, in spite of everything her mind was screaming, denying, her body was still reacting, and she hated that she couldn't stop it…

"Catherine," he murmured again, his voice sultry, a velvety purr that sent shivers running down her spine as his fingertips brushed an erotic caress over her skin, "Come to me…"

She tried to speak, but her voice seemed to have been stolen, along with her ability to move. She parted her lips to scream her denial, but nothing came out, and she could only mouth wordlessly as his arms tightened around her, his lips roaming over every inch of exposed skin he could reach.

And now she noticed something else. Where before his touch had been tantalizing and burning, inflaming her despite her best efforts to resist the feel of his hands and his lips on her, it now seared, but not so much like an erotic heat. Rather, it felt like a potent acid had been poured right onto her skin, and now where his lips skimmed over her skin, she felt as though her skin were beginning to scald right off of her body, melting away, and though she wanted to scream her agony, she couldn't. Her voice was still silenced, and her body would not move no matter how desperately she tried to make it. And now the pain in her shoulder was even stronger, pulsating with hideous anguish until tears prickled in her eyes, as hot and scalding as the brush of his hateful lips.

"Catherine," Rowan was purring again, his mouth at her ear, whispering seductively, "Come to me…stop resisting…you'll only hurt yourself…"

His words surprised her, and she flicked her eyes over to stare into his vivid blue ones, only they weren't blue anymore, but an almost poisonous yellow-green color, with a vertical slit for a pupil. And those eyes that before had been burning and filled with an unquenched lust for her now held a deep concern and pleading that had her doing a double take as a soft gasp left her lips, her voice all of a sudden returning in a rush. She felt herself falling backwards, and flung out her arms to catch herself as she fell away from Rowan, into the blackness, except as she looked up a second later as her back hit a soft, downy surface, it wasn't the sidhe Prince she saw hovering over her with his eyes full of concern and uncertainty. Another fey had taken his place, just as devastatingly handsome, but with yellow-green eyes rather than blue, and hair as silver as a steel blade, hanging down into those luminous eyes as Demon loomed above her, his human face lined with worry, and a subtle glow of relief.

"D-Demon…?" She didn't recognize her voice as it rasped from her throat, sounding like she hadn't used it in months, and she stopped to swallow, the dryness of her throat making it almost impossible to do so.

"Easy," the Cait Sith murmured when she tried to speak again, gently pressing two fingers to her lips, "You just woke up…You need to rest for now."

"What happened?" she whispered when he withdrew his hand, blinking groggy jade eyes at him, her mind still hazy from and confused.

Her nightmare was still lingering on the peripheral of her mind, making it hard to discern dreams from reality, and every so often a flicker in the corner made her start, and she glanced over at it, only to see it was just a shadow cast from the candlelight flickering on the walls. That was when she realized she was in a room she hadn't seen before, surrounded by glowing tapers that hung on the walls and sat on the bedside table. The entire room was dim and small, with no windows, and just a single door to enter and exit through. Everything was made of carved, polished wood that gleamed a dark almost-black brown. The small bed on which she now realized she was laying was slightly stiff beneath her, a far throw from the luxurious beds in Arcadia that she had grown so accustomed to during her stay, and as she shifted slightly on the mattress she felt her back twinge a little in response.

But it was her shoulder that got her attention as it gave a nauseatingly painful throb, and a faint moan escaped her lips as she rolled onto her left side to take pressure off of it. She didn't manage to get very far, though, as Demon was sitting on the edge of the bed that she attempted to roll to, and stopped her short, his hands coming down firmly on her arm and waist, holding her when she attempted to squirm off the bed, whimpering in pain.

"Catherine," he murmured, his voice uncharacteristically tense, "You need to lie still."

"My shoulder," she moaned, feeling tears prick in her eyes, real tears this time, and her shoulder burned again, making her cringe.

"I know," he murmured, sweeping a hand gently over her face, brushing her hair back, "I wish I could make it stop…"

"What happened?" she whispered again when the pain slowly subsided, leaving a ghost of an ache in its place. "I remember we got to your lodge and then I don't…"

"You fainted," he said, and she lifted confused jade eyes to look at him, noting the haunted look in his yellow-green eyes as he gazed back down at her, "We aren't sure why, but I feel it was because there was so much pain from your shoulder that it caused you to black out…We don't have another explanation."

She tried to think back on what he was saying, a vague stirring of memory coming up to the surface so she could just barely touch on it. She did remember getting to the lodge, and struggled to push further than that… They'd gotten inside, she could remember that now, and had been sitting around discussing a plan of action for what to do next, since their intended course had been all but nixed on account of their new stalker friend who had been trailing them for quite a while beforehand. She could just barely remember having been seated in one of the old armchairs around the center of the main room, listening to Demon plot out their next maneuver, and how he would go to check the lists of available trods out of the lodge so they could continue as unhindered as possible through the mortal realm and back through another trod into the wyldwood, hopefully out of the way enough to keep from running into their pursuer again.

She closed her eyes for a moment, wincing as her shoulder gave another dull throb, but pushed the discomfort for a moment to try and recall more of however long ago it had been. She'd been sitting in the room, with everyone else, she couldn't quite remember exactly what had been said, just that they'd pretty much wrapped up the conversation, and she remembered wanting to take a bath. She'd stood up and then…Then what?

She couldn't recall it… There had been a sickening, blinding pain so intense her vision had gone black, and she guessed that was when she had fainted, because she didn't remember anything else until now, waking up.

"What happened after I fainted?" she asked wearily, opening her tired eyes to peer up at Demon, who was watching her with that haunted look still.

"I carried you into the room and put you to bed," he said softly, frowning at her, "There was nothing else to be done. We didn't know when you would wake up, but other than let you rest, there was really nothing any of us could conceive of doing."

Catherine nodded her head slowly, amazed at how heavy it felt on her shoulders, more like a ton of bricks than her skull and its contents, and struggled to keep it up as she blinked her jade eyes at Demon. She felt she should be doing something now…more than just laying there. She was awake now, so what could she do other than continue to lay here like the dead?

She started as it occurred to her, and the swiftness with which she sat up not only left her head whirling and her swaying dangerously on the spot, but had Demon very understandably alarmed as he reached forward to keep her from collapsing backwards.

"Oh…wow," she mumbled, putting a hand over her eyes, trying to force the room to stop spinning around her. "That…was a bad idea…"

"Easy…" Demon's hand was warm against her back as he steadied her, his yellow-green eyes slitted with concern, "You have been unconscious for a while and are bound to be weak for now. You just need to rest."

"I…want to talk to Tri…and Nik," she mumbled, still slaying slightly where she sat, a hand fumbling around until she felt Demon's arm beneath her fingers and latched on for support. She noticed his skin was almost hot under her touch, or maybe she was just cold. She couldn't seem to stop trembling, so she went with the cold theory.

"Tri and Nik," she murmured again, lowering her hand from her eyes and trying to blink her vision clear of white spots, "They're probably flipping out…"

"They were," Demon agreed softly, "But they were able to calm down with the help of Goodfellow and Tertius. They are resting now. You can talk with them when they've woken up."

"How late is it?" she asked weakly, carefully lifting her head to look at him. "And how long was I unconscious?"

"By estimate, it is nearly midnight," he murmured, supporting her gently with both hands now clasped on her shoulders, "And you have been unconscious for around four hours, or thereabouts."

"Oh…that's…not as bad as I thought…"

Demon gave a small smile as she finally seemed to relax, even if only by a marginal amount. Gently, he tightened his grip on her shoulders, and ushered her back into a reclining position on the bed until her head was back against the pillows as she gazed blearily up at him.

"I feel dizzy," she admitted feebly, "And my shoulder really hurts…"

"I know," he murmured, his expression giving away his distress as he tugged a blanket over her, tucking it in around her. "I wish I could say I knew a way to make it go away…"

"It's not your fault," she murmured, her eyes growing heavy all of a sudden, "I know you want to help…"

"I want to protect you," murmured Demon quietly, his yellow-green gaze troubled as he looked down at her. "I have told you time and again, Catherine, I am here as your protector, your guardian; I am sworn to protect you. And because I couldn't protect you, this is where we are now."

"Could you stop blaming yourself, it wasn't your fault," she insisted, growing a little frustrated at the Cait Sith's stubbornness. "You didn't know what would happen…"

"That does not matter," he sighed, shaking his silver haired head, his gaze somber. "Whether I knew or did not know is irrelevant. The fact is that I should have never left your side. No matter my reluctance to appear in Elysium, my first priority should have been to protect you, but my pride made me falter."

"We all make mistakes," she murmured, jade eyes glimmering in the candlelight, "It doesn't mean something like that is your fault. So please, _please_, stop blaming yourself."

"Would it make anything better if I did?" he asked quietly, not meeting her eyes, focusing instead on a loose thread on the blanket under his fingers.

"It would make me feel less like smacking you," she retorted, trying to sound threatening.

Of course, being as weak as she currently was, the effect was somewhat ruined by the breathlessness of her voice and the quavering, weary note that accompanied it. Glancing up at her, Demon gave an amused smile as he caught her trying to glare at him through hazy jade eyes.

"What are you smirking at?" she demanded, and his smile broadened. "Demon!"

"You are every bit the stubborn headed girl I met three years ago," he sighed, giving an exasperated shake of his head, amusement glinting in his yellow-green gaze. "That is a relief, though I am sure it will only make life a greater challenge in the long run."

"What does that have to do with what I was just saying?" demanded Catherine, totally bewildered.

"I was worried," Demon said, still smiling at her, though now he looked sad rather than amused, "After everything and everyone that I have failed to protect you from that perhaps someone might have managed to take the girl you once were and replaced her with someone else. Someone who doesn't have the will to keep fighting, even when she's down."

Catherine blinked at the Cait Sith, thrown by his words, and quickly looked away as she felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. With her eyes now fixed on her hands as they fidgeted with the blanket, she missed the look Demon gave her. A subtle look that spoke volumes, and would have been sure to make her face grow even redder if she'd caught how his hooded eyes gazed down at her; heated flames flickering in their depths.

"I am glad you didn't disappear," he murmured softly, and even without looking up at him she felt her heart give a fluttery lurch.

"Of course I didn't," she mumbled, tugging absently at the hem of the blanket, her face flushed. "That would be letting Rowan win. I'm too stubborn to let him win."

Demon's eyes narrowed to burning yellow-green slits.

"It wasn't Rowan I was worried about," he admitted quietly.

"Well, who else is there to worry about, then?" she asked, still without looking up. "No one else is going to change m."

Demon was quiet for a moment, contemplating, weighing his chances of how greatly he would regret doing this if he went ahead to say what he was thinking… Well, he would _really _regret it if he didn't say it… He would sooner risk her fury and hate than her hurt if she found out he had been hiding this from her.

"So," he murmured, his eyes resting on her face, preparing for her reaction, "Not even Sage could change you?"

Catherine felt her heart stutter to a halt, then—after a moment's stillness—began to jackhammer painfully hard against her ribs, leaving her breathless as she lifted wide jade eyes to stare at Demon. The Cait Sith's expression was carefully blank as he gazed back at her, a subtle gleam in his yellow-green eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she barely managed to whisper, unable to control the sudden panic rushing up, flooding her entire body so she was trembling again.

Demon's eyes flickered over her pale face, unblinking, seeing everything she wanted to hide.

"I have watched over you for three years, Catherine," he murmured, "I know more than you might like me to… I am not blind or ignorant to how you react to the Prince when he is near you… I may not know or understand exactly just what you feel for him, but I know you _do _feel something for him…And you cannot say he has not changed you at all, because I know he has… You admitted that yourself in Arcadia."

"I…I don't want to talk about this," she muttered, beginning to turn away from him, feeling tears pricking in the corners of her eyes.

Demon's hand caught her wrist as she attempted to pull the blankets over her head, pulling her back over despite her feeble efforts to slip away from him. But even as he turned her to look at him, she kept her head down, effectively hiding her face in the blankets.

"Catherine," he murmured, now shackling both wrists in his hands, and frowning down at her.

"I don't want to talk about this!" she cried, her voice muffled against the blankets.

"Then answer me one question and I will not push the issue any further," he bargained quietly, bowing his head towards hers. The brush of his silver hair against the back of her neck made her shiver. "You know I do not look to hurt you, Catherine, but I cannot protect you if I do not know what the dangers to you are. In my eyes, Sage could as dangerous to you as Rowan. Maybe even more so."

"He isn't," she mumbled, hunching her shoulders, as though to block him out.

"Then just tell me one thing," Demon murmured, his tone firm but somewhat desperate as he rested his forehead against the side of her head, "And then I'll go away?"

"What?" she asked, almost in a whimper, feeling her stomach churn in nervous anticipation of what was coming next.

And she had been right to dread Demon's next words…

"Do you love him?"

Why did it seem that nearly every man she got close to—trapped in human form or otherwise—had the ability to turn a knife in her heart without every physically stabbing her? Sage had done it…Not once, but twice. Rowan had managed to do it. But why did Demon have to do it, too? And about the man that had first twisted the knife… It was like karma had some kind of personal vendetta with her, and she really couldn't understand why… Maybe karma was just crueler in Faery…

"Catherine…" The sound of Demon's voice made her heart clench painfully in her chest. "Please, just tell me whether you do or do not, or even if you do not know, and I will go away…"

How could he manage to sound so much like Sage without even speaking the same words as the Prince? Without even using the same words or tone, how did he manage it? Maybe it was just another of karma's cruel tricks…

"I…" she stopped as a lump in her throat caused her to choke a little on her words, or perhaps they were tears, "I…"

How hard was it to say "I do"? They were such simple words, everyday fragments of language she had used before without hesitation. Now she couldn't even seem to remember how to properly form the words with her lips, let alone say them. Perhaps it was because while her mind fought to comprehend and speak the words, her heart knew it would be a form of emotional suicide to finally admit to herself that she really _did _love Sage.

Sure, the Prince had made her say it before under the coercion of spill-your-guts, but that had been different. At that time, she had been unable to stop herself from saying it, and had been able to at least persuade herself that since she hadn't voluntarily admitted it aloud that it made it somehow void. She'd been coerced into saying it, and was therefore not really bound or affected by the words. But now, if she were to voluntarily admit to Demon and herself that she loved Sage, she was afraid of what it would to do her. It wasn't even that Demon knowing bothered or frightened her… Somehow, she could live with that… She just didn't know if she could live with herself knowing…

Sudden wetness burned her cheeks, and she blinked in alarm, feeling more tears slip unchecked down her face into the blankets. A sniff escaped her before she could stop it, and shortly on the heels of that came a sob she didn't quite manage to stifle. Demon's hands tensed around her wrists as more tears and sobs began to well up in her eyes and chest, and she gave a startled hiccup as she as suddenly pulled upright until she was sitting. Demon freed one of her wrists to reach forward and cup her chin, coaxing her face up until he could look down at her. She could just barely make out his yellow-green eyes staring at her through the haze of tears. But before she could blink the offending droplets away she was abruptly staring into a blurred mass of pure silver as Demon pulled her forward into his arms, cradling her head against his powerful shoulder. A low rumble, almost like a purr, came up from his chest as he rested his silvery head against hers.

"I'm sorry, Catherine," he murmured quietly, his breath warm against her ear, his strong arms cradling her gently to him, "I had to know… I cannot protect you if I don't know what is hurting you…"

She knew that…but it didn't mean it hurt any less.

"Don't do it again," she managed to mumble through her tears, dropping her head onto his shoulder; closing her eyes in an effort to fight back the sobs.

"I won't," he promised quietly, gently nuzzling the top of her head like some great cat. "You have my word."

She nodded mutely, biting down on her lip to stifle her sobs as he gently rocked her in his arms, murmuring soothingly in words she didn't understand, but nonetheless felt comforted by. Without understanding, they were still somewhat familiar to her, a flow and cadence she felt she had heard before. But she couldn't remember where or when.

She sniffled quietly again, letting the words wash over her as she tried with increasing difficulty to push back the wall of memories rising like a tide in her mind, feeling her heart clench like it were trapped in a steel vice as they threatened to breach the barrier she had managed to erect in her mind. Images she had been keeping at bay for so long were creeping in closer, and she shied away from them, focusing instead on Demon's voice, trying to hear only what he was saying. She sat in his arms and listened quietly to those words, realizing after a moment of intent focus that they were not only being spoken, but sung.

Demon's low soft voice wove the melody together like a story, and after another moment she realized it was a lullaby. Even with her eyes closed, without any understanding of the words she was hearing, she could still see the images being brought to life by the Fey lullaby, as real as if she were witnessing them herself. A great being, older than time itself, came to life, traversing alone in a cold and barren world of gray and black. Great wings folded in around him like a protective cloak, their once-white feathers now ashen and bedraggled, some even falling away as he walked, leaving a trail of pain behind him. But as he walked, something followed, a small figure, darting behind him on four legs; its long black tail swaying through the air, disbanding the cold, bleak grayness, bringing instead a subtle glowing warmth as it went. But, wrapped up in his grief, the being didn't seem to notice his follower, and walked on in silence.

The song went on, and so with it did the story in her mind's eye. The great being was now resting, weary and forlorn, beneath a rocky overhang, gazing out into the empty world ahead of him. Sorrow weighed heavily upon him, and the realization of his total isolation brought tears to his faded eyes. Around him, gray feathers lay scattered like so many dead and forgotten corpses, a testament to his ever weakening spirit. Soon, he too would fade away, alone and forgotten, until nothing remained. A misty gray tear fell from his eye as he bowed his head, striking the cold ground, and Catherine felt a tear fall from her eye as well, feeling his sorrow as earnestly as if it were her own.

But then the flow of the lullaby shifted, becoming lighter, and abruptly the great being lifted his head, his faded eyes resting on the small figure sitting just feet away, watching him with curious and pitying crimson eyes set in a small, black-furred, bewhiskered face. The little creature made no sound as it sat there, watching the great being, who gazed back in a mixture of wonder and uncertainty. The little creature blinked its almond shaped eyes that were the color of blood, then rose to its four feet and padded silently over to the being, stopping just at his feet, and tilting its head at him. The great being did not move at first, merely sitting and gazing back at the small creature, which perked its wedge-shaped ears and twitched its small, black, triangular nose at him.

The being hesitated for a moment, then cautiously offered out his hand to the creature, who gave a small, cursory sniff to his fingertips, then leaned its head forward to nose curiously at his upturned palm. It pulled away after a moment, only to lift its small foot and place it just in the center of the being's hand. At once, there was an outpouring of warmth and light and color, washing over him with such speed and immensity that it left him breathless with astonished tears glittering in his brilliant golden eyes. Gasping, the being turned to stare down at the little creature, who was making a soft rumbling sound deep in its chest as it gazed back up at him, warmth glowing in its vividly red eyes.

The being gazed down at it for a long moment, glad tears running down his cheeks, and then a smile broke across his face, as beautiful and radiant as the sun, and his once dead heart sang with unspeakable joy as he finally realized that, at least, he was no longer alone.

Catherine slowly opened her watering eyes as the melody faded away into silence, Demon's soft voice gently tapering off into quiet as the final note danced through the air, shimmering for a moment before it, too, fell away into silence. She didn't immediately move or speak, feeling a kind of drowsy contentment to just lay in Demon's arms for the moment. Her eyes still glistening with tears, but not ones of sorrow.

She might have been happy to stay like that forever, but Demon moved slightly, shifting her in his arms so she was tipping backwards until she felt the softness of the pillows beneath her head, and was gazing up through misty eyes at Demon. His expression was difficult to understand, a mixture of peaceful and somber that made her frown slightly.

"What's wrong?" she murmured, gently taking hold of his hand when he would have moved away.

"I didn't mean to make you cry again," he murmured, turning to give her a small, regretful smile. "I had hoped that lullaby would have helped you feel a little better, but I apparently was being presumptuous. And I suppose my singing voice isn't quite up to par for such things."

"You have a beautiful singing voice, and you sang it just fine," she told him, much to his astonishment, "And it _did _make me feel better."

"Oh?" Demon's eyebrows shot up, a display of his disbelief. "Then if you're feeling better, why are you crying?"

"They're happy tears," she said with a little sniff, even as she reached up to wipe them away.

Demon's lips twitched in the beginnings of an amused smile as he watched her, and gave a small sigh.

"About that lullaby, though," she said once she'd wiped her eyes dry, "I feel like I've heard it before. A long time ago."

Her words seemed to puzzle Demon, for her frowned in bewilderment as she said them, and gave her an odd look.

"I do not see how that is possible," he told her slowly, tilting his head in a rather cat-like display of confusion, "That is a very old Cait Sith lullaby that our mothers generally sing to us as newborns. No other fey know of it outside of our people."

It was Catherine's turn to frown now, for now she was just as puzzled as Demon was, though she was still quite sure she was right in saying she had heard the lullaby before.

"Maybe," she began uncertainly, "Do you think my father could have sung it to me as a baby?"

Demon looked thoughtful. He hadn't contemplated that idea, but that was probably because the likelihood that Catherine's father had been around when she was a baby, let alone sung to her, wasn't all that great. But she had said she felt as though she had heard it before, and he believed she had.

"I do not know," he admitted after a long moment, "It really seems unlikely, and I am sorry to say that. It is possible, though, that you recognize it because it is something of your heritage. Our people have sung these songs for a long time, longer than Oberon and Mab have been alive. Really, the songs are a part of us."

Catherine nodded once in quiet understanding, though she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed at his words. She had kind of been hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could have found a bit of proof that her father had been around, even before she could remember. It would be nice to have even a little hint that he hadn't just come around once to seduce her mom and then left, to know that he cared…

Well, she couldn't have everything, or know everything. She would just have to wait until they actually found her father before she could uncover all of the answers she wanted. She looked now at Demon, noticing he was watching her with an almost wary expression. Apparently, he was anticipating the waterworks again. She gave him a small smile, hoping to relax him a little.

"What was the lullaby about?" she asked curiously, seeing his eyes flicker in surprise.

"You didn't understand the words?" he inquired, looking bemused.

"No," she admitted, a little embarrassed. "It just sounded familiar, but I couldn't understand the actual words."

"Ah," murmured Demon, not quite managing to successfully hide his amused grin before she caught sight of it.

"Don't laugh," she snapped, which, of course, only made him smile even more broadly than before. "Hey! I never learned Fey! It wasn't exactly offered as a choice of language when I was in school."

"Alright, settle down," he said, putting his hands up in a peace offering gesture that did nothing to lessen the amused smirk on his face. "Really, now. You act as though I was making fun of you."

"You are," she told him heatedly, glaring. "Right now you are! You're still smirking!"

"You are not exactly making it easy to stop," he informed her coolly, laughter evident in his yellow-green eyes. "You are acting as embarrassed as you did two weeks ago when you first got caught "admiring" my human form."

"_Why is that relevant to this conversation?!"_

She hadn't meant to yell, and should have considered herself lucky that Demon was quick enough to intervene, leaning forward swiftly with a warning hiss to clap a hand over her mouth as a broken snore sounded from the main area beyond the door. But where she really should have been grateful for the intervention, she really kind of wished he had just let her yell and disturb the other person. Because, she didn't know about anyone else, but having a very well muscles, more than fairly good looking, five-foot-eleven hunk of male lying across her as he kept a hand over her mouth, his inhumanely gorgeous face just inches from hers as he looked at the door, waiting for the disturbed sleeper beyond to return to dreamland, was more than a little vapor inducing.

Sure, you would think after two solid weeks of sharing a bed with Demon she would be all but immune to his human attractiveness. But generally they were never _this _close, even in bed. And even when they were, he was not usually sprawled on top of her, or with his face so close she could the individual flecks of moss green in his eyes as he turned them to look at her with a sigh of resignation.

"Would you _please _refrain from doing that again?" he asked, half-glaring down at her. "I would really rather avoid waking Glitch or anyone else up at this hour if it is all the same to you."

She mumbled incoherently past his head, and he raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?" he inquired lightly, moving his hand away from her mouth as she narrowed her jade eyes at him.

"Sure thing," she said coolly, "If you get off before you really give me something to shout about."

Demon's eyebrows rose so high that they threatened to disappear into his hairline, and that infuriating smirk was back on his face.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked in a fairly purring voice that made her cheeks burn while her heart did that stupid little flipping move.

"You know the answer to that question," she told him coldly, "Now get _off_."

The look of total mischievousness Demon gave her—and how terrifyingly reminiscent of Puck it was—immediately had her suspicious, and nervous.

"I don't know what you're up to," she told him quietly, poking a finger into his well muscled chest, "But I can see the wheels in your devious little cat mind turning, and, so help me, if you do not get off of me in the next three seconds, I will—"

She never got to finish saying just what she would do, though, because at that moment Demon abruptly rolled, his arms pulling her with him, until he as lying on his back with her pinned against his chest, trying t breathe regularly while her heart thudded rapidly against her ribs.

"You," she managed to stammer out, looking up in time to catch him giving a very self-satisfied smirk, "Put me down!"

"I am not holding you up," he pointed out in amusement.

"Let me go," she snapped, thumping his chest, annoyed when it barely made an impact against his hard pectoral muscles. "Dammit, Demon! Get your paws off me!"

His smirk broadened as she glared.

"I do not have paws at the moment."

"Have I ever mentioned how much you as a human manage to piss me off?" she inquired sweetly.

"I pissed you off as a cat, too," he reminded her, quirking a silver eyebrow.

"Not as much as you do as a human," she told him curtly. "You couldn't pin me down when you were a cat."

"Ah, I could, actually," he contradicted her, "I just had to sit on your lap or stomach and then you didn't have the heart to move me."

"I would now," she muttered, causing him to chuckle in amusement.

"Dammit, Demon! Come on! It's late, and I'm tired, and injured!"

"All the more reason for you to stay exactly where you are," he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I won't get any rest like this! And you were supposed to tell me what that lullaby was about!"

"I was, wasn't I?" he mused, feigning a look of surprise.

"Demon," she growled warningly. He chuckled.

"Alright," he sighed as she fixed him with a venomous stare, "Let me see, then, where to start?"

"How about with letting me go?" she suggested coolly.

He glanced down at where she was still pinned against his chest, feeling a flicker of amusement to see just how cat-like she managed to look when she was glaring at him; with her jade eyes narrowed as they were, she looked like a little bobcat.

"Are you really so opposed?" he inquired, smiling softly down at her.

She fidgeted slightly, her cheeks turning a light pink color, and he had to fight the urge to smile even more broadly.

"I'm not opposed," she mumbled, averting her gaze, "This is just really uncomfortable this way. It's like laying on a rock."

She thumped a fist against his chest as though to emphasize her point, and he smirked.

"Very well, then," he sighed, and abruptly she was being whirled through the air for the second time to land flat on her back on the mattress, staring up at Demon as he gazed down, braced on all fours over her, smirking hugely. "Better?"

"Ish," she said feebly, feeling her stomach flip as she tried very hard not to stare at his prominent chest muscles, or to notice his trimmed abdomen. "You can, uh…just lie down now, you know?"

A very poor choice of wording and forethought on her part… She should have realized that Demon would her at her literal word…because a moment later he had laid himself down, his silvery head nestled against her stomach, his arms resting alongside her waist, and gave a deep sigh of contentment.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, staring in alarm at the top of his silver head. "You crazy cat man, what are you doing n—?"

She paused as a low rumbling sound caught her by surprise, resonating from Demon's chest, almost as deafeningly loud as a car engine revving, and she felt her eyes grow very wide as she realized that he was _purring. What the hell—PURRING?!_

"You," she said numbly, dumbstruck as she stared down at the top of the Cait Sith's head, "When exactly were you planning on telling me that you could still purr? Of all the things you kept from being a cat, it wasn't your ears or your tail, but your _purring mechanism?!_"

"You're happier when I purr," he rumbled quietly, his words punctuating the thunderous purrs, "Somehow, I doubt my ears or tail would make you as happy."

"I could mess with your ears if you had them still," she pointed out, absently running her fingers through his silver tresses, brushing them away from his fey ear, which stuck up from the side of his head, long and slender. She noticed a bronze stud on his earlobe, glittering in the candlelight, and idly brushed a fingertip over it. She smiled when Demon's purrs increased in volume.

"So, you were going to tell me about that lullaby?" she prompted him idly, still stroking his ear.

"Mm," he mumbled, not really hearing her as she gently traced the form of his ear, making his purrs grow, if possible, even louder.

Sensing she did not quite have his full attention, Catherine smirked and drew her hand away, dropping it on the bed beside her. Demon's purring faltered, and he lifted his head to look through bleary yellow-green eyes at her hand, muttering ineligibly as he reached forward to paw insistently at her fingertips, apparently forgetting for the moment that he had opposable thumbs and fully dexterous fingers of his own.

"You are so pitiful," she said, biting down a laugh as he continued to paw vigorously at her hand. "Now quit playing kitten—no! Don't even try giving me that look! It won't work—and tell me what the lullaby was about."

"Fine," he huffed, giving up attacking her hand and gently dropping his head back onto her stomach, "But I demand repayment."

"I'll scratch your ears when you finish telling me, deal?" she bargained, rolling her eyes in amusement.

He hummed his assent, then sighed wearily.

"That lullaby is actually one of our oldest," he began softly, nuzzling thoughtlessly against her stomach as he spoke, "And it is more a record of our ancient pas than a nursery song. To the Cait Sith, it is the real beginning of our history, since it retells the very first encounter between the Morningstar and Lord Wrath. It was after Morningstar's banishment from paradise, but before Wrath was named our King. After the Morningstar's fall, he wandered alone until Wrath appeared; one of the very first cats to walk the earth before the Creator gave it real life. That lullaby basically recounts the sorrow and loneliness Morningstar endured in his travels alone, and then the relief and joy of finding a companion in a barren world.

"All of our songs tell our history, from the very beginning to the present. Every tragedy or celebration, every war—won or lost—is told in our songs. Most of them about Lord Wrath, and our progenitor."

Catherine frowned at his last words, confused. "_And _your progenitor?" she asked. "Wasn't Wrath the progenitor?"

"No," murmured Demon without lifting his head. "Lord Wrath never sired children, or took a mate. He has remained celibate throughout his existence. Our progenitors, the mother and father of all Cait Sith, were Wrath's brother and sister kin, the only other cats alive at that time. They have long since faded from this world, but they are well remembered and revered, just as Wrath is now."

"Oh," murmured Catherine, understanding.

She was finding that the more she learned about the history of Cait Sith—a history she was now part of—the more amazing and interesting it became.

"Now," sighed Demon, startling her as he took hold of her wrist, dragging her hand up to place it on the top of his head, "If you would be so kind."

Grinning, thoroughly amused at the Cait Sith's behavior, she complied with his earlier demand and began to run her fingers gently over his ear, smirking when he started purring immensely, turning his head into her touch.

"You're hopeless," she told him with a sigh, jade eyes glowing affectionately down at him.

"Mm," he mumbled distractedly, his eyes drifting closed in contentment.

It fell quiet in the room, save his constant purring, and Catherine to wonder just how Demon could manage to purr in his human body. She knew the mechanics of a cat's purr—in a _cat's _body—but she didn't think the same anatomical traits were present in a human body. Or maybe it wasn't about science, now that she stopped to consider it. After all, everything in Faery was dictated possible or impossible through the amount of belief that was put into it, and so if Demon believed he could still purr in his human body, it probably enabled him to do so, regardless of whether or not he should physically be permitted to by the definition of science. Because, as she very well knew, science and magic did not go very well together.

"Hey," she murmured after a moment, and Demon's purring faltered a little, showing he was listening, "Do you think I could purr?"

Now the purring stopped altogether, though she was still idly stroking along his ear, though not much longer as Demon slowly lifted his head, turning it so her hand fell away from his ear, and peered up at her through narrowed yellow-green eyes that fairly gleamed with amusement.

"Come again?" he asked, arching a brow.

"You heard me," she said, a little disgruntled at the clear amusement glinting in his eyes, and the way his lips were curling at the corners. "I asked if you thought I could purr. And I mean it, so don't start laughing again."

"Me, laugh?" he inquired, and laughter was thick in his voice as he fairly purred with his amusement.

"You are," she told him stiffly, narrowing her jade eyes at him, "And what is so funny about the question?"

"Well, let us contemplate that, shall we?" he sighed, propping himself up on his elbows and cocking his head at her. "What could possibly be so entertaining to me about that question? Let us pretend for the moment that I am Grimalkin, so it will make it more understandably clear. You asked if you could purr. Now, let me ask a question. Are you a cat?"

She glared at him. "That's not funny," she said, and his lips curved in a smirk.

"Are you or are you not a cat?" he inquired, acting as though she hadn't spoken.

"Physically or in terms of my heritage?" she shot back, to which he barely avoided chuckling in amusement.

"Let us say for now in terms of heritage," he replied calmly when she narrowed her green eyes to mere slits at him. It looked as though the bobcat was about to make a reappearance.

"Then, yes, I am," she said.

"Now, another question, do cats purr?" he asked, both eyebrows shooting up now as he witnessed the flickering of annoyance in her gaze.

"You're annoying," she told him coolly, which only amused him further.

"Answer the question, Catherine," he sighed, rolling his yellow-green eyes. "Do kitties purr?"

"I can't believe you just said kitties," she muttered, and he sighed again, thoroughly exasperated. "Okay, yes, fine, cats purr! You want to ask me anything else, Captain Obvious?"

"No, I believe that about covers everything," he said, still smirking quite smugly so she felt a rather insistent urge to kick him in the shins.

"I'm not petting your ears again," she told him coldly, to which he snorted in derision.

"I am sure I will not die from such withdrawals," he said sardonically, to which she gave him a dirty look. "You act as though you were hoping to get my compliance with that threat."

"Hope springs eternal," she reminded him coolly.

"Mm-hmm," he said, rolling his eyes. "And you want to _purr _of all things…"

"Is it such a bad thing to want?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You can do it, why can't I?"

"It is not that you can't, so much as that you have yet to learn how," he sighed, "And of all the ridiculous things I could teach you about being a cat, you decide you wish to learn one of them to be purring."

"Well, would you like to suggest another ridiculous thing that isn't quite as ridiculous as purring seems to be?" she asked.

"Landing on your feet every time," he suggested.

"Ha ha," she said dryly, "Very funny."

"You act as though I am joking," he said with a little smirk thrown at her before he laid his head back down on her stomach.

"I thought you were," she admitted, going momentarily wide eyed.

"Landing on your feet is a must for cats," he informed her, snuggling cozily up against her stomach, as though he were just the same cat he'd been two weeks ago instead of a five-foot-eleven human. "It could potentially save your life if you get thrown off a tall building, or thrown backwards in battle. And it also enables us to attack those below us if they are attempting to come at us while we are seemingly helpless in midair."

"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" she muttered, half to herself, idly resting her hands in his hair, but not quite touching his ears, though he nudged his head a little closer to her fingertips as though hoping to prompt her silently to continue petting them against his earlier insistence that he did not require such pampering.

"Cats have always landed on their feet," he said simply, "It is not even necessarily something that is learned so much as a sense you are born with. Even a week old kit can accomplish it if you were to toss it through the air."

"Why the heck would I toss a kitten through the air?" she demanded, appalled at the very idea of throwing a helpless kitten into the air just to see if it would land on its feet.

"My mother did it to me," he said, shrugging his shoulders lamely. "She did it for all of us. Just to be sure we could. It was a very interesting day; really, sitting up in the trees, wondering what on earth she could possibly want us all there for other than to hunt sparrows for lunch."

"Your mother was insane," she muttered, horrified at the idea of a tiny black Demon as a kitten being thrown into the air by his mother.

"She was not," he sighed, sounding more amused than resigned. "She was very wise and very aware of the fact that we needed to know how to land on our feet. By tossing us out of the tree she managed to find out which of us needed to be taught and which of us didn't."

"Don't tell me some of your siblings didn't land on their feet," Catherine moaned, putting a hand over her face.

"One of them didn't, but he was fine," Demon said, totally unconcerned. "We were not so far up that we were prone to breaking our necks if we did not stick the landing."

"I am so glad I was raised as a human," she said wearily, "I would not have enjoyed being thrown out of a tree."

"You say it as though you expect I was thrilled by the concept of it," he snorted in amusement.

"You don't sound all that opposed to it, you know," she told him curtly, narrowing her eyes at the top of his silvery head.

"There are worse things than being tossed out of a tree," he sighed, and she could almost hear his eyes rolling in his head. "Now, I recommend you try to go back to sleep if possible. We still have a while before dawn and it would not be all that great an expenditure of your energy to lay here until the others awaken."

Catherine was quiet for a moment, not because she was actually trying to go to sleep but actually focusing on her body's state of being and wondering if she could actually manage such a thing on her own. Seeming to sense her dilemma, Demon gently lifted his head again to fix her with a knowing look and after a moment asked,

"Do you need the nightshade?"

She glanced at him, almost nervously he noted, then away, a flicker of guilt going through her jade eyes as she nodded meekly.

"I will go get it for you, then," he sighed, and rolled off of her and out of the bed, landing almost silently on his feet and moving around the edge of the bed towards the door, his shadow thrown on the wall from the candlelight, making him seem even more imposing in the dimness of the room than she'd first thought.

He paused at the door, glancing down at her as she shifted very subtly on the blankets, turning onto her side facing away from him, and frowned when he noticed her huddling in on herself, yanking the covers up to her chin.

"What is wrong?" he asked softly, stopping with a hand resting on the doorknob, but she shook her head.

Of course, that was not at all the way to go about making him mind his own business, as she had already known, but she hadn't been able to help herself. Sighing, Demon lowered his hand from the doorknob, instead settling himself on the edge of the bed behind her and giving her an almost reproachful look that she had no hope of seeing with her back turned to him.

"Catherine," he murmured quietly, and she shifted uncomfortably beneath the sheets, "You are not helping me look out for you again… You are upset…Why?"

She contemplated the possibility of telling him it was really nothing and to go get the nightshade so she could get to sleep, but she suspected he would just patiently sit there and wait for her to either cave or really snap at him before he budged. And considering the likelihood of her actually getting up enough of a temper and forcefulness to snap at him was about as likely to happen as him going away was if she just ignored him. They would probably just end up sitting there the rest of the night, at least until he decided it wasn't worth hassling her when she would be better off spending the time sleeping. But, unfortunately, she didn't have the kind of backbone to wait that long. So, of course, she caved…

"I hate needing it," she mumbled, pulling the covers even further up to her chin, practically over her mouth and nose, gazing unseeingly at the wall ahead of her, which danced with strange little shadows cast from the flickering candlelight around her. "I really do…I just…I want to sleep on my own, but I know I can't…"

Demon's eyes narrowed slightly, a glimmer of remorse coming into them for a brief moment before he closed them with a soft sigh.

"I know," he murmured, and leaned down to gently brush his forehead over her shoulder, a short contact that made her remember when he had been a cat, rubbing up against her back and shoulder to comfort her when she was feeling less than cheerful. Even now, as in his human form, it had the same effect, though it didn't quite abate the pain she felt knowing just why she had to keep relying on the nightshade.

She might have been better able to deal with the pain of knowing she had to use the nightshade over and over if it were for a different reason than the one she constantly had to confront, but it wasn't. The reason she had was the one she would continue to have until such a time as she managed to get over it, and she somehow suspected that would never happen. For whatever reason, she didn't believe there would ever be a time when she would not require the nightshade, not unless some miracle happened to cure her of it… Much like with her shoulder. Only a miracle cure could help with that now…


	37. Chapter 37

"Demon," she murmured tentatively, and he glanced down curiously at her as she chanced a look over her shoulder back at him, "Do you…Would it be possible that Wrath would know a way to help with this, too? You said he might know how to fix my shoulder, too, so could he be able to help with the nightshade?"

Demon gazed down at her for a long moment, thinking hard. At any other time, he might have been entirely in the opinion that Lord Wrath could most certainly help cure her of whatever the problem was with her needing the nightshade, but that was before he'd started to form his own theories about just _why _she needed it. Before, he had thought it was a kind of stress grating on her nerves, or even something to do with her fear of being discovered by Mab and Rowan during the time that they had still been looking for her, but he knew better now. Her problems with sleep and relying on nightshade to cure them were caused by something entirely different, and he didn't think even Lord Wrath could cure it.

Love sickness was not, after all, something you could easily drive away with a potion or medicine. It was something that required healing of its own variety, and sometimes that healing never came, no matter how long a person might try to accomplish it. Demon did not like to think that Catherine's affections for Sage would make her heart so ill that she could never recover, but that would be a naïve thought to have. The fey were a magical people, never forgotten by the humans they encountered or pursued, no matter how brief of a time they spent in doing so, and even if Catherine was half fey, she was also half human, and just as prone to the effects a fey sidhe would have on her than if she were fully human, only just slightly less.

If she was this heart sick now for the sidhe Prince, Demon did not even like to imagine what would have become of her if she had been a mere human trapped in his thrall. Truth be told, she probably would not have survived the heartbreak. If she was as she was now because of such a small encounter with him, even if they were numerous in number, she would have become little more than a husk of her former self if she were fully mortal and had encountered him. Then again, he thought sorrowfully, gazing down into her jade eyes, if she had been fully mortal, she might never have encountered the Prince at all, and this would not even be a dilemma.

"I do not think so," he murmured at last, and there was resignation and regret in his voice as he spoke, as well as in his face and in his eyes, "I wish I could say that Lord Wrath _could _help with this kind of sickness, but there is no real cure for it that even he could offer."

Catherine was quiet for a moment, blinking up at him through her dark jade eyes, and he thought he saw a sheen of tears there before she turned her face away, her copper hair falling into her eyes to hide them from his view.

"You know," she mumbled after another long moment of silence, and Demon frowned at her words, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked softly, leaning over her, gently brushing at her hair, trying to see her face.

"You know why I need the nightshade," she mumbled, and his eyes widened momentarily, "I didn't want you to know…"

His frown deepened, and his brows slanted down in regret and worry as he gazed down at her, his hand pausing against her cheek, feeling a slight dampness there that made his heart turn over.

"I do know," he admitted, and felt her tense. A hot droplet of something hit his knuckles as it fell from her eyes, and he gently brushed it away. "But that does not mean I am going to say it is a foolish reason for you to need help, Catherine… And why would you not want me to know? I thought we had just talked about this…"

"I haven't even told Nikki or Trinity," she mumbled, her voice thick with tears, and he felt his heart give a painful wrench in his chest as he looked down at her as she put both hands over her face, trying to hide from him, or perhaps her pain. "They've always come first, before anyone else, and I guess…I just felt like it wasn't fair for you to know everything before they did…and I didn't want you to know because I…I thought I could deal with it on my own… That's why, when you asked about…about that earlier I couldn't say anything. I can't deal with it on my own, and I'm scared to admit that I do…feel that way…because if I do, I don't know if I can handle it, since I already can't deal with this right now not having really admitted it."

It was a lot of words that, to him, said one thing. She was in love with Sage, and she couldn't figure out why, or stop herself from feeling that way. No matter what the Prince had said or done, no matter what she knew in her mind to be true—which was that the Prince did not love her back, and probably never would—she couldn't turn her feelings for him off, no matter how desperately she tried. And it pained her to know that, which was why she had been trying so hard to deny the truth to herself, without actually lying. But she couldn't hide from the truth anymore than she could make it untrue…

So, he had been right all along, really… When he had said earlier that Sage was as much of a danger to Catherine's wellbeing as Rowan, if not more so, he had been right. Rowan could hurt Catherine, but only so far as he was permitted to physically attack her. Sage's injuries to her went much, much deeper than anything Rowan could do to her could, even with his wretched blood tie keeping her bound to his malicious whims. Where Rowan carved physical wounds, however, Sage's were engraved on her heart, where no amount of glamour or wishing could hope to heal them. And that infuriated him. More so than the moment when he had found out what Rowan had done to her at Elysium, when she had been unprotected and left at his mercy, Demon felt that his fury then would be nothing compared to what he might experience if he was ever forced to confront Sage face-to-face again in this lifetime.

As Catherine's guardian, he was sworn to protect her from everything and anything that might wish her ill, physically or otherwise, but he could not have a hope of protecting her from Sage now. Even if she never saw the sidhe Prince again, and even if a thousand years passed and she found happiness with another man, she would never forget him, and if they were forced to endure his presence ever again, her wounds would only dig deeper, and he, Demon, would be helpless to stop the progress of it. He would only be able to sit there and watch the furrows deepen and widen, and be there to catch her if she ever fell, but that was all. He wouldn't be able to stop the pain, even if he gave his entire life to trying.

What good, he wondered, was a guardian that could not have a hope of guarding his ward? It almost seemed to defeat the entire purpose of his existence there…

"I will get the nightshade," he murmured softly, at a loss for anything else to say as he continued to look down at Catherine, his heart wrenching as he watched tears track down her face, though he still could not quite see her eyes through the curtain of her copper colored hair.

She didn't answer him, and he moved silently out of the room, into the pitch black interior of the main gathering area, where Glitch was sprawled across one of the only couches, his feet dangling off of one end, his mouth open in a tremendous snore as Demon flitted past him to where their packs stood in a group in the kitchen area. He rummaged among them, the darkness not even beginning to impair his night vision as he rifled through the first two until he found the one that contained the vials of nightshade Oberon's healer had prepared for their long journey. He slipped one from its place among the rows of vials, cradling it like a precious gem in his palm, and then hesitating as the urge to take two and ensure Catherine's deep rest nagged at the back of his mind. But much as he might desire to guarantee that she would not be disturbed by dreams or nightmares, he also knew it would be endangering to increase her dosage further. She was already growing immune to the effects in small dosages that would have put a lesser fey out in seconds and kept him out, and increasing that dosage, allowing her body to become resistant to even that, was not something he was willing to do.

It was already painful enough knowing that there was virtually nothing he could do to make her need the nightshade any less, but more so than that was the lingering knowledge that if she continued to need it for the rest of her life, it could very well kill her if she started taking more and more to make sure she could sleep through the night. It was almost as lethal as if he were to have prescribed her mortal drugs. It was a slow, creeping addiction that would work its way through her, until her body—totally unaware of the danger—succumbed to the power of the medicine and shut down completely, not realizing that in building up a resistance to the immediate effects it had ensured its utter destruction at the end of everything.

Clutching the single vial in his fist, Demon slipped back through the main room and into the bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind him and sitting down once more on the edge of the bed, turning to Catherine, who was still facing away from him with the blankets draw up to her chin.

"Catherine," he murmured, gently nudging her shoulder when she failed to respond, "Here…"

She didn't move at first, and he had an insane, foolish hope that somehow she had managed to fall asleep on her own in the fifty seconds in had taken him to find and return with the nightshade, but, of course, he should have really known better. But, what had she said? Hope sprang eternal, even in fools.

After a moment of stillness, she slowly rolled onto her back, wiping at her eyes before lowering her hands to peer up at him through tearful, glittering jade eyes, trying to manage a smile that did not at all convince him of anything other than she was on the breaking point again. Placing the vial aside on the nightstand, he reached down and bundled her up into his arms, hearing her give a small sound of alarm that quickly died away as he cradled her to his chest, burying his face in her hair.

He didn't say anything, just closed his eyes as he held her gently, feeling her slowly relax from her rigid position as he began to rumble a low purr, wishing he could do more than he was, vaguely wondering in the back of his mind if it would have been more helpful if he were a cat. She'd always been able to cry in front of him when he was a cat, even when she'd found out he could talk and all the rest of it, but since having taken this human form she seemed to resent the idea of showing such weakness in front of him. It pained him that a physical difference like this made her feel she had to hide from him… She had never thought to hide from him before. She had never had any shame in completely breaking down in front of him until he had changed his form—or _Oberon _had changed his form—but something about seeing him as he was now, as a _man _instead of a cat, prevented her from really letting go.

Thinking quickly on that thought, he lifted a hand and immediately the candles went out in a rush as a soft wind blew through the room, throwing them into a darkness that not even his eyes could see through. At first, she went rigid in his grip, and he thought he knew why, but when he did nothing more but continue to sit there, holding her, purring softly, she seemed to relax, and he thought he felt a couple of hot droplets land on his chest.

"I know it might not seem like it," he murmured softly, gently nuzzling her shoulder as he felt her tense up with the effort of fighting back her tears, "But I am no less the person I was when I met you three years ago than I am now…I might have a different body right now, but I am still that cat…I am still _your _cat… And I do not ever remember you fighting back tears in front of your cat… In fact, I seem to remember you holding him very tightly, almost to the point where he could not breathe properly, and crying your heart out when you found out you would not see him anymore… He really did not mind, you know, not being able to breathe, because at least then he knew she really cared and was really letting him see how much she cared when she cried like that. He still would not have minded, even if she had not been crying about him, so long as he knew she was showing him how she really felt… He never wanted her to hold back in front of him…he still doesn't."

He had no real convictions that his words would make a difference to her, even if she heard and understood what he was trying to tell her. So it was a surprise and a relief, and a great tear in his heart, when he heard the broken sob leave Catherine a moment before she locked her arms around him, burying her face in his chest, and letting her tears run down her face, unrestrained, as she cried. He had thought in the back of his mind that his much greater size and strength would make it less noticeable if she decided to hold onto him for all she was worth, but he discovered a moment later than greater size and strength meant nothing when matched up with the immensity of pain that went into a broken heart, and even without her physically crushing him as she had the one time she had held him a year ago, sobbing her heart out with as much intensity as she was now, he felt his heart being slowly squeezed and constricted until he almost couldn't breathe from the pain of it as he listened to her cry, and felt her tremble in his arms. Her entire delicate form was wracked with every sob, and he struggled between wanting to cradle her gently and hold her even more tightly to stop those tremors that shook her as if her entire being were coming apart at the seams.

He had only experienced this much pain from her one time before now, even with all the other times since they had arrived where she had been in pain, there were only two great times he could really remember her losing control like this. The first time had been the day she had left for college, thinking she was leaving him behind, and would never see him again…and the other time was now… And he could not figure out for the life of him whether he was more pained or furious to know that the pain of separation from him, and the anguish of the pain now caused her by her feelings for a Winter Prince were so closely tied. He had vowed to himself the day she had left that he would never let her suffer such pain as he had seen her go through the day as she'd been taken away to a place he had thought might destroy her entirely, but now he realized that the real destruction had come from bringing her here, and putting her in the path of a Winter Prince, with a heart of ice, who cared nothing for her.

He had been trying to protect her from the pain he'd witnessed once before, never wanting to have to go through the pain he had felt by witnessing it, or the grief it had caused her, but he had failed dismally to prevent such a recurrence. If he had really done as he had promised he would, he would not even be able to compare her present pain to that pervious time, because it would not even compare to then. So, once again, it seemed, he was just receiving a vividly potent reminder of just how dismally he had failed to protect her…

He wanted to say he was sorry for not protecting her, but he could not think of any words that would ever be enough to atone for his failure. It was rather ironic, he thought, that he could belong to a race so well known for their incessant monologues and eloquent speech, and not know of a single thing to say that would change or in any way mend the scars that had been permitted to be caused because he had not been there to prevent them.

He imagined that, if Grimalkin were here to witness this, he would laugh to himself. He already thought Demon a poor example and representative of their kind, and if he were to see his cousin like this, he imagined it would only add to Grimalkin's convictions that Demon would have been better off disowned at birth, or making a jester of himself in Mab's court. Seeing Demon as he was now, trying to comfort a half-blooded daughter of one of their kin, Grimalkin's snide nature would be certain to come out in all of its glory, and, for once Demon would probably not care an ounce for his cousin's thoughts, no matter what cruel remarks Grimalkin managed to throw his way.

It did not matter the kind of oath he had made to Catherine, only that he had made it and failed to keep it. If there was one thing Grimalkin would never be able to fault Demon on as far as not upholding a Cait Sith's natural ordinances, it was that a Cait Sith should always keep his oath, and anyone who didn't was either unworthy to be recognized by his other kin, or just plain cowardly. So, even if Grimalkin called him out as a failure for not upholding his oath, he could at least not say that Demon did not have a Cait Sith's pride in making on oath with all of his being behind it. And it was already punishment enough for him without his cousin there to ridicule him that he now had to sit there and endure Catherine's pain, knowing that if he had only been capable enough before to protect her she would not be as she was now. Ragged and near broken from her sorrow, on the brink of falling to pieces in his arms.

It was strange, he reflected, gently pressing his face into her silky copper hair, how time seemed to slow down when you were punishing yourself. It was almost as though the Creator was ensuring that you really learned your lesson, taking the time to reflect and repent, though he did not think he would ever have enough time to reflect, and even less time to repent for his failures. He had to wonder, though, just how much Catherine would like to argue the fact that he had failed her if he were to voice his thoughts aloud. She had already told him before now that she did not blame him, and he believed her when she said that, but he also imagined she was too tender hearted to ever hold him or anyone else around her responsible for the crimes Rowan had committed. In her mind, Rowan was the only guilty one, and no one else could have stopped him from coming after her as he had, and anyone who said otherwise was either very wrongly mistaken or just lying.

Yes, he thought, a sad smile working its way onto his face as he felt her tremble slightly in his arms, her tears finally seeming to lessen, she would never believe he was at fault, or that he should be sorry for what had happened to her. So he could never tell her again that it was his fault, because he knew she wouldn't listen. No matter if he said it a thousand times, to her, the only one that would need to apologize to her, or to be held responsible, was the man who had physically wounded her. And that was also why, along with Demon, she would never blame Sage for anything he had done to her… The Prince had made wounds of the heart, but she did not consider those an act of crime…and that was where Demon really punished himself, for not having been able to teach her that sometimes the real crimes were ones committed against your heart, not your body.

Well, he supposed that was the one fatal flaw of having been raised in the family she had been. She was taught to forgive and forget, and that's exactly what she would do…at least with Sage, and whoever else had ever wounded her heart. Given time, she might even find it in herself to forgive Rowan, though Demon knew full and well she would be the only one to do so. Everyone else around her, who cared about her, would sooner gut Rowan and string him up by his intestines than forgive him for what he'd done. And that included Demon. Just entertaining the sensation of what it would be like to sink his claws into the Prince's sneering face was almost too tempting to resist.

"Demon," Catherine sniffled then, her voice so frail and choked that he almost couldn't make out his name from the garbled speech.

"I am here," he murmured softly, gently nuzzling the side of her head, contracting his arms a fraction around her.

"Nightshade," was all she said, but he understood.

Not releasing her, he gently leaned forward slightly, stretching out his arm until he could grasp the vial of nightshade where it rested on the bedside table, bringing it over and removing the cork as she slowly straightened up from leaning into him, her arms falling away from his waist to her sides as she sniffled. Her jade eyes were bright from the tears she'd cried, and were slightly rimmed with red as she blinked the salty droplets out of her vision, focusing instead on the little vial of nightshade as Demon brought it in front of her. Lifting a trembling hand, she coiled her smaller fingers around the vial as Demon held it out to her. He curled his fingers around hers, ready to take the vial from her as soon as the nightshade took effect, feeling a pull in his heart as he saw a tear slip unchecked from her eyes as she lifted the small vial to her lips.

He watched her knock the potion back, registering the immediate dullness that set into her eyes, and the way her body went almost immediately limp so he had to reach forward to coil an arm around her shoulders to keep her from falling back against the headboard as he helped to tip the last of the contents into her open mouth. His yellow-green eyes glittered as he watched her eyelids flutter shut, and a soft sight escaped her as he pulled the vial out of her grip, her body going entirely limp as sleep overtook her.

He laid her back against the pillows, feeling a small smile come to his face as he watched her head flop almost uselessly to one side as sleep rendered her totally incapacitated. If only he could trust that it would keep her so heavily subdued, he would have felt a thousand times more at ease, but he knew that he would be lucky if this amount kept her under for more than a couple of hours, and supposed he should be grateful that—despite the initial cause of her fainting spell—it had at least given her more rest than she might have otherwise had. Of course, not all rest was peaceful, and he wondered just how restful her previous unconsciousness had been, since he had sensed her growing fitful just before she'd managed to come back to the world of the living. He could only guess she had been having nightmares again, and though he had a good couple of guesses what the main focus of those nightmares had contained, he couldn't know for sure. For once, she had not spoken fully coherent words so much as faint whimpers and mumbles he never quite understood.

Still, he could only pray for now that the combination of times that she would rest tonight would be enough to carry her on through the next day, and that—if they were exceedingly lucky—her shoulder would go unbothered, or at least to a lesser degree than it had tonight. He could live the rest of his nine lives without ever having a repeat of tonight's fainting episode…

He sighed as he drew back from Catherine, gently brushing her hair from her sleeping face before reaching down to tug the blankets back up around her, feeling his heart give another painful little wrench in his chest as he noted the faint tear tracks still visible on her face. He thought about brushing them away, but the chances of her waking up at his touch her too great to make him feel particularly convinced it would be in her best interests to do so, but he still found it uncomfortable and almost unbearable to look down at those faint, glittering tracks. The marks of her sorrow.

A sardonic smile came to his face at the thought, and he sighed again, lifting a hand to rake it agitatedly through his silvery hair, leaving it in disarray as he looked down through tired eyes at Catherine. It was really starting to become very apparent to him that the longer he stayed in her company, or human company in general, the more overly dramatic and almost obnoxiously corny his thoughts became. "Marks of her sorrow"… Any time before now he would have just thought of how they were evidence that she had been crying and been done with it, but now everything seemed to have an extra meaning to it, or a more elaborate one at the very least. Still…her tears were evidence of her pain, much as he wished he could avoid that truth.

He heaved another great sigh, blowing the breath from his lungs as he finally turned away from her, dropping his face into his hands, his elbows propped on his knees as he slumped over. Exhaustion was like a ten ton weight on his shoulders, and even with Catherine now far away in sleep, guilt still gnawed insistently at him, forcing his mind to replay the seconds-earlier image of her sobbing uncontrollably into his chest, and with a small twisting in the pit of his stomach, he dropped one hand to his chest, feeling the dampness of her tears as they still lingered on his skin. Slowly opening his yellow-green eyes, he turned his gaze down to his chest, feeling a slow burning of fury begin in the pit of his stomach when he actually spotted the glistening, diamond-like droplets still adhered to his chest, a lingering reminder that he would rather have done without.

"I hear saltwater does marvels for the skin," said a voice then, speaking in a bored tone from just behind him.

If he had not been expecting the appearance, Demon would probably have spun around and attacked the being who now sat behind him, but he had already been anticipating that Grimalkin would show himself eventually, since he had done an uncharacteristically good job of waiting for the past couple of hours.

"I am not in the mood for your sarcasm, cousin," he murmured quietly, not turning to face the great gray cat as he lowered his hand slowly to his lap, gazing down at the floor, which he could barely make out through the pitch darkness still surrounding him.

As though reading that thought, a candle flickered to life just to his left, perched on the bedside table, and beside it, his long, bottlebrush tail curled over his paws, sat Grimalkin, watching Demon with an expression that was half bored, and half pitying. Or at least Demon would have contemplated it was a pitying expression if he didn't know Grimalkin a thousand times better than he did. And since he refused to actually look his kin in the face, he could not accurately say just what kind of expression the gray cat was wearing at the current moment. Though the resigned sigh that Grimalkin gave spoke more profoundly than any look he might bestow on Demon.

"You never are, you know," Grimalkin informed him coolly, "I have found after nearly nine hundred years that my temperament is nothing short of irritating to you, though you could be a little kinder in remembering that it is my personality, rather than a façade I entertain to keep things lively."

Demon gave a humorless smile, and shook his silver head. "What do you want, Grimalkin?" he inquired softly without looking around.

"Nothing of severe interest," the gray cat said idly, flicking the end of his long tail, his yellow eyes narrowed as he contemplated his cousin, "I am merely only here as a messenger for his great Majesty Oberon, since he seemed to think it was of the utmost importance you be told that your punishment is now over and you are free to resume your true form whenever you so please, though something tells me you already knew that."

The wry smile that came onto Demon's face only confirmed Grimalkin's theory, and the gray feline gave a derisive snort.

"Well, that was a complete waste of my energy, then," he muttered, half to himself, "Though I suppose I can only say Oberon has never been as knowledgeable as I thought he ought to be, given he is the Summer King. Powerful he may be, but common sense is not quite his strong suit, wouldn't you agree?"

"You already knew I would know my true form had been restored to me, cousin," Demon murmured wearily, "You cannot say that is the only reason you are here, so do not idly complain about wasted time when you are only wasting your breath in doing so. What is your other duty in coming here? I am actually rather surprised you knew where to find me."

"It was not hard to miss you," said Grimalkin with an inelegant sniff, raking his eyes over the other Cait Sith, "You and your merry troupe make quite the scene when you desire to. Not to mention it wasn't hard to imagine where you would go when I discovered you all were being fervently pursued through the wyldwood."

"Ah, so you learned of that," sighed Demon, though he was not in the least bit surprised. "And did you become curious enough as to inquire who our new shadow might be?"

"I cannot say I did not," Grimalkin said with a swish of his tail, "Though I can also not say that my attempts to uncover his identity were altogether successful. He is much harder to trace than I believe any other fey I might have had to track or hunt in my last few hundred years has ever been, the close exception being her Majesty the Iron Queen, but that is an altogether different matter. She merely did not know when to stay put, this…person, I suppose I should call him, is much more inclined to simply disappearing at the drop of a hat."

"Quite like you," observed Demon, finally glancing over to give his cousin a rather amused look that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Grimalkin gave a little sniff, fixing Demon with a rather disapproving look.

"I admit I am just as prone to flights such as that," the Cait Sith admitted coolly, "But mine is more for the sake of getting something done, and I hate to admit it, but I do not do it quite so well as he does."

"Many would like to argue that point, but go on," sighed Demon, quirking a silver eyebrow. "No one can manage to disappear as well as you, so it is something for you to be saying he can do so much better than you might."

"His speed of disappearance isn't what marvels me so much as the utter validity of his disappearance," said Grimalkin, looking caught between annoyed and impressed as he thought back on the shadowy figure he had attempted to pursue through the woods. Demon could already tell from that look that his cousin—in spite of his irritation at being outdone at something he had long prided himself on—could not help feeling admiring of the being who had managed to evade him so completely. "You know very well that we cats can disappear, as anything can, but there is always that trace of glamour left behind."

"As with anything that uses it to disappear or become invisible," Demon murmured, inclining his head in agreement, "Are you saying he did not leave anything behind to speak of him?"

"Not even a whiff," said Grimalkin, twitching his whiskers in clear annoyance. "And you also know, I am sure, that such a feat is impossible except by a very scant few."

"Lord Wrath among those few," murmured Demon, his yellow-green eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "Whatever was following us was not Lord Wrath. That much I am certain of."

"Of course it wasn't," said Grimalkin, still speaking in a bored voice, though his expression hinted at exasperation that Demon would even go so far as to state such an obvious thing. "Why would Lord Wrath be wasting his time gallivanting after the lot of you when you are going out of your way—even being as foolish as to brave death—to find him in the Briars? It would be much more entertaining to his purpose to simply sit back and watch you flounder about like a bunch of misled kits."

"You speak as though you have already had a good chat over cream and biscuits with him about this venture of ours," said Demon with a rather resigned looked thrown at his kin, who snorted.

"I have not spoken with him," Grimalkin admitted, turning his head away, though a twitch of his ears suggested he was getting annoyed again.

"You wish you had, though," Demon guessed with a humorless smirk. "It would be just like you, cousin, to go about fraternizing with Lord Wrath and having a good laugh over the troubles of our group. Though I must say in all your years alive I have always been quite amazed that a chatter box and socialite like yourself has never gotten the honor of speaking to Lord Wrath in person, especially after you've made such a habit of making trips to see the Leanansidhe, as well as Oberon and Mab. You make such good company with those of higher power."

"Do not insult me by making me out to be some kind of power usurping house pet, cousin," growled Grimalkin, his ire stirred as he fixed Demon with a warning look. "I only do so as a chance for opportunity to fall into my paws. It has served me well to flit about the courts, much as I am loath to do it."

"You mean to say you loath the Summer and Winter courts," Demon corrected him, but you really have no trouble gathering favors or affections from Leanansidhe. Believe me, cousin, your common enemy with her is no secret. You both adore Titania about as far as you can throw her, which, if it is to be said, is not all that far, glamour aside, and you have always been overly fond of the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', though I do not quite think anyone takes it as seriously as you do."

Grimalkin gave an indignant snort and refused to look at Demon, who merely rolled his yellow-green eyes in exasperation and let a few moments of tense silence pass them by, in which he soon realized that Grimalkin was waiting for him to come groveling back for the rest of the information that his kin was sure to have brought with him on this little excursion.

"If that was all you came to say," Demon said idly, and saw Grimalkin's tail twitch out of the corner of his eye, "You would be best served in leaving. I am retiring soon, and we start early in the morning for the Mortal Realm, as our pursuer has made it a little more difficult to travel as safely through the wyldwood as we had first planned."

"That is not all I came to say and you very well know it," snapped Grimalkin, his yellow eyes flashing with annoyance, "Really…you do enjoy being quite a nuisance to me."

"I do not," denied Demon with a weary sigh, "You merely make it a readily available thing for me to raise your ire, as you have always been quite prone to tantrums when the people around you do not come crawling to your paws for the information you have. I am a good many decades older than you, cousin, so do not think I am some easily tricked newborn that you can bat around for your entertainment. That is what your other acquaintances are for."

"Fine," sighed Grimalkin, narrowing yellow eyes at his kin. "I should inform you that, as you were so busy entertaining the fancies of your weeping girl, there, that I took the liberty of rifling through the lists of trods you would have been better served going through on your own to find the trod you will find most readily available for your venture into the Mortal Realm tomorrow."

"How uncharacteristically thoughtful of you," Demon said, turning an appraising eye on the gray feline, who pretended that Demon did not exist as he went on,

"As you had earlier proposed to your little band of misfits, the best way out of here is into New York, though I had rather hoped you could find somewhere a little less ostentatious to go finding other ways back into the Nevernever. Out of the all the places that are least hospitable to our kind, not to mention they have the most unreliable trods, I am appalled to think you would still choose New York City as your designated pathway."

"The more you go on about this, the more you are making it sound as though you are almost genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of the people involved here," Demon mused, looking over his cousin with a rather thoughtful eye.

"Do not be stupid," Grimalkin said waspishly. "It is simply no good to me if you end up dead before you even come knocking at Lord Wrath's front door."

"I sense a favor in the making," sighed Demon, rolling his eyes. "Very well, cousin, just what is it you would like me to do, or ask of Lord Wrath to do, assuming you have a good enough excuse to go asking his Majesty for favors."

"I am not some empty headed fool to go demanding favors of our King," Grimalkin informed him curtly, "And you do not owe me any favors, nor am I going to go asking for any. Though I should demand a favor for having spent those tedious hours pouring over those papers. Who in the world even sorted those in the first place, they were completely scattered in that room."

"Getting on with it," Demon prompted him dully.

"Very well," sighed Grimalkin, swishing his long tail, sending the one lone candle flame dancing frantically. "I also came to give you some very much needed advice, though I admit at first I did not think you would require it as desperately as I have come to find out you do…"

Demon closed his eyes with a weary sigh, knowing what was coming next. He had known Grimalkin for a very long time, but there was also just the tone of the Cait Sith's voice that indicated that what he was about to tell Demon had everything to do with Catherine, and Demon had the distinct impression he was not going to enjoy hearing this at all.

"I was tolerant before because you are the girl's guardian," murmured Grimalkin, for once leaving out all hints of sarcasm or superiority, dropping his voice to a low, fervent tone, "And before now I had not thought it would be of any consequence to let you continue on this way, protecting her and watching over her like some house trained pet. I had thought, given the time, you would eventually come to your senses about the matter, but I am afraid that I must admit I was wrong to even consider such things."

If the conversation hadn't taken such a decidedly serious turn, Demon might have found it in himself to point out that Grimalkin admitting he was wrong was rather a rare thing, but he knew better than to start making jibes now. Grimalkin was, for once, being dead serious with him, also a rare thing, and it was in his best interests to listen, even if he had no intention of really hearing just what his cousin was going to say to him.

"You need to break away from her," murmured Grimalkin, his yellow eyes narrowed to mere slits as he stared imploringly at Demon, "She is going to be the death of you otherwise."

"I did not know you cared for my life," murmured Demon, in spite of his brain telling him to shut up before he could say something stupid. Of course, in his current state of mind, he did not particularly care whether what he said offended Grimalkin or not.

And if it did, the gray feline did not give any indication of it, and instead—after a brief pause in which he glared at his cousin—went on in a fierce murmur,

"You followed her for three years in the mortal realm, which, by itself, is no shocking thing. You have always been odd enough to entertain wandering around that place for as long as a decade before you decide to come back for a rest, but you did not come back when she moved away. You followed her. You were already attached to her then, and since bringing her here it has only become even more obvious that you are developing feelings for her. And it is already bad enough that you are losing yourself to the human mentality that you feel affection for her, and that is exactly what it is, so do not even argue otherwise."

"So sorry to disappoint you on the matter, cousin," murmured Demon, turning a stony yellow-green gaze on Grimalkin, "But I do not quite think you grasp that perhaps, rather than confusing my emotions with something that cannot be true, that you are simply refusing to believe in something that is entirely possible because you have spent your entire life believing it to be a lie. We were raised to believe that we as Cait Sith cannot feel love for anyone around us, not even ourselves, and anything or anyone we do become attached to is caused by the sheer interest or entertainment it or they might provide. So, forgive me if I refuse to conform to that particular ideology in light of recent events."

"You are not in love with her," Grimalkin said tersely, his tail now lashing so it came dangerously close to overturning the candle beside him.

"Perhaps not yet," murmured Demon, and Grimalkin gave a low growl in the back of his throat. "Do not raise your hackles at me, cousin, I may not be quite in the state of mind to adequately discuss this right now, but I am well enough to know that if you continue to press the issue, I will not take kindly to it, and would not be so opposed to tossing you out of here."

"Well, if you feel so inclined, you may as well go ahead, because I am pressing the issue," Grimalkin all but snarled at him, "If you keep on this road as you are, I cannot guarantee you will come out at the other end unharmed!"

Demon actually laughed, a harsh, bitter laugh that had Grimalkin recoiling slightly in alarm as Demon rose to his feet, a hand over his face as he laughed.

"You forget, cousin," he said, turning on Grimalkin, his eyes narrowed, "I am no coward like you. I expect to be hurt, and would not consider my job thoroughly done if I did not arrive at the other side with some collateral damage done to myself."

"Collateral damage is it?" sneered Grimalkin, his fur now bristling along his spine as he rose to all fours, glaring at Demon. "You would be suffering more than just a minimal casualty if you are lucky. You would put everything on the line, your pride, your dignity, all for the sake of thinking you might be in love with this half-blood? Think for once, Demon! Females are rare among our kind, only one lives for every forty males we have. You would no doubt be enthralled by her, since she is a rare thing among our kind. But do not mistake this childish obsession for something as inane as love."

"Do not think of trying to convince me that I am mistaking my own feelings, cousin, because you will be wasting your breath yet again," murmured Demon very quietly, a warning glow in his yellow-green eyes, "And I know how you are about wasting time and energy. So, if you have nothing else to say to me, then I would suggest you leave things as they are, and leave. If you are not planning to help us get to the Briars, we have no need of you here. And I certainly will not humor you by allowing you to continue to insult me this way."

"So it is an insult to you if I say that you are not in love with the girl?" demanded Grimalkin. "It is not an insult for you to stand there and say you may very well be throwing yourself at her mercy by letting your wayward emotions wreak havoc on you, but it is an insult for me to say that those feelings are a lie?"

"I am glad we understand each other," said Demon curtly, a cold smile curving his mouth, "Now, before I really do lose my temper and disgrace you, cousin, I would truly recommend you take your leave now."

Grimalkin looked for a moment as though he might like to say more on the matter, but the look in Demon's eyes told him that the Cait Sith would hear no more of his convictions, at least not without serious repercussions delivered to him, and realized he would, indeed, be wasting his breath and precious time just sitting there attempting to convince the fool any further.

"I will leave you, then," he said in a low voice, bitterness dripping from his every word, and alighted from the nightstand to the floor, stalking past Demon to the door, his bottlebrush tail held high in defiance, "Though I will say one final thing before I leave you in peace with the girl."

"And what would that be?" inquired Demon, arching a silver eyebrow.

"You would have done well to leave her where she was," Grimalkin shot over his shoulder, "And let her fade away into the human world as she ought to. Bringing her here was the biggest mistake you could have made, and I will wait for the day when you realize that."

Demon's eyes flashed with anger, and Grimalkin, sensing the immediate danger, whirled around as a low growl sounded from behind him, fixing his narrowed yellow eyes on Demon as the Cait Sith—still in his human form—towered over him.

"Get out of my sight," Demon growled quietly at him, hands clenched in fists, his yellow-green eyes fairly burning with rage. "And do not consider showing yourself to me again unless you desire a fight with me, cousin."

Grimalkin crouched at Demon's feet, anger blazing with equal intensity in his narrowed yellow eyes, and he allowed a small growl to escape him, though he did not say a word more before he vanished from sight, erasing his existence there as easily as putting out a flame.

Demon stood for a long moment, his entire body rigid as he forced himself not to move, and not to think, but to simply breathe slowly in and out, trying to calm the festering rage inside of him before it could completely consume his being. He could not remember being so furious in his entire life, not even when he had found out about Rowan's treachery at Elysium, or anything else even remotely related that could have stirred his fury, but this was entirely different. He was livid. It took an immense amount to really set him off, and he had never thought anyone would ever manage it to the point where he could literally not think past the haze of red in his mind, but he had never assumed Grimalkin would ever push him so far as to cause such incoherency. Well, at least his cousin had managed to outdo him at something, though if Grimalkin ever showed himself again he may regret having made Demon so furious.

It was never a good thing to anger a Cait Sith, and if you ever managed to, you would live to regret it. And if you didn't live that long, well, there were other ways to make someone regret they had ever toyed with the patience of a cat. The humans did not have their saying "corner a cat, get scratched" for no reason. So, if Grimalkin had any conception of what was good for his wellbeing, he would wait a very long time before he decided to reappear in front of Demon for _any _reason.

Though, if he had to stop himself and think about just why his cousin's words had angered him so, he had to laugh at himself a little. It was not because the reason behind Grimalkin's words was in any way foolish, and Demon was only now realizing it, but it was because his reason for refusing to hear Grimalkin was so ludicrous. Grimalkin had warned him about falling for Catherine, and that his feelings were no more real than Grimalkin's feelings for the girl were, and since the gray feline had no feelings for Catherine at all, well…that said enough about that. But where Grimalkin might have scorned Demon's feelings for Catherine and marked them as merely a flight of fancy, a passing obsession that would eventually fly away over his head, Demon had to laugh at himself because he knew that that wasn't at all what his feelings were. And how foolish was it that he wasn't really realizing that until this very moment?

He had been convicted enough of his feelings when he had told Grimalkin to leave him be, but he had only done so because he knew that any feelings he _might _have for Catherine would be very much real. He had not known until this very second, standing there, gazing down blindly at the floor, that the feelings he considered he _might _have were actually very much already there. He had been fighting Grimalkin over the idea that if he _did _start to fall for Catherine that it would not merely be a passing fancy. Now, he understood that what he should have been fighting his cousin for was the fact that he was already falling for Catherine, and that he knew full and well that the feelings he was already experiencing—not the ones he _would _experience—were entirely real and genuine.

The reality of that epiphany now struck him as harshly as if he had been rudely slapped across the face, and he actually gave a small, humorless laugh as he sank down onto the edge of the bed, bringing a hand up to cover his face, dropping his elbows onto his knees for support as he huddled over on himself. The reality lashed out at him again as he became intensely aware of Catherine's presence behind him, though he knew her to still be asleep, and he felt a pained smile come onto his face as he closed his eyes, letting the truth wash over him with such force he felt sucker punched by it. _He was in love with Catherine…_

Ah, the Creator had a cruel sense of humor… Whoever had been foolish enough to say Cait Sith could not love had been a dreadful liar and a fraud, and not known at all what they were talking about. Because if Cait Sith could not love, then he either was not Cait Sith, or, as he had first considered, the notion that he could not feel such an emotion was as unreal as suggesting his feelings were. Well, he was quite sure he was a Cait Sith, or else he had spent the last few centuries of life being lied to by his mother, which was even more impossible, so…somewhere along the line, someone else had been tricked into thinking cats—specifically Cait Siths—could not love. They had probably been a dog person, he thought with a humorless snort.

Because he was most certainly falling—if he had not already fallen—in love with Catherine… Damn…

"When did you let that happen, Demon?" he asked himself quietly, both hands pressed over his face, white spots winking behind his eyes.

Or had he even _let _it happen? Somehow, he didn't think it was a matter of him _letting _anything… Otherwise, he probably would not have even _let _himself consider it… He was Catherine's protector, her appointed guardian from the time she had set foot into the Nevernever. A guard was not generally supposed to _let _himself fall in love with his ward… So, he most certainly hadn't _let _himself do anything. He'd been blindsided was what had happened. All the time he had spent scanning the rest of his surroundings, scouting ahead, checking his tail, yet he hadn't stopped to consider the real danger was hiding right in plain view… If only he'd thought to check his peripherals… Then again, how did one really scout out the dangers of emotions like this?

From what he understood, you just couldn't… It came when it did, or didn't at all. Of course, there was another horrible irony in all of this, and, as before with the startling revelation that he even had such feelings at all; it was only on the spur of the moment now that he even considered this second cruel twist in the plot. He was in love with Catherine, or on the swift track to being there, and yet…for all of that…she neither knew, nor would probably feel the same way about him, because at the moment, her heart was still weeping for a Winter Prince who had left her in the cold. That aside, he had seen enough human movies in his lifetime to know how this type of scenario went, and he had also seen it take place in real life, or did someone want to try and tell him that Puck and Meghan Chase's relationship had not been a key example of that, because they would be lying if they tried.

Puck had watched over Meghan for sixteen years, from the day of her birth until the time she had returned to the Nevernever in search of her human brother. For all those years, he had been her best friend and protector, but even when she had learned of his feelings for her, she had not really returned them, too busy yearning for the Winter Prince of the time who was now her current husband in Mag Tuiredh, Prince Ash. She had spurned the affections of Robin Goodfellow in order to follow her sidhe Prince, and in return he had spent months working to earn a human soul in order to return to live with her in a place that was forbidden to all fey. He had managed it, and now the two were living their happily ever after in the Iron Kingdom, and for a long time after that, Puck had been left on his own, mourning his losses.

Moral of the story: the best friend and guardian generally did not win out over the other competition. In the rare cases that it did, there was some other factor in play, but Demon didn't quite believe that such factors were up for consideration in his current case. Not to mention he had just spent the past thirty seconds discovering that he was even in the middle of having a case at all… Somehow, he had the feeling that general love affairs did not spring up like this, as though it were overnight, but since he did not exactly have a degree in such things he supposed he was not an accurate judge of it.

He groaned quietly, jamming the heels of his hands even more harshly into his eyes, watching stars wink and dance behind his eyelids. This was not was supposed to have happened…not at all… He had not even started the night thinking this was how it would end. So how had he managed to reach this miraculously horrendous end from where he had originally started? When had he gone from playing the simple role of caretaker and guardian—hell, he would even accept the title of _pet—_and suddenly turned up here, as the lovesick admirer in the wings? Truly, he wasn't sure he would be all that opposed to the idea of being able to convince himself that he was not, in fact, in love with Catherine at all, but he knew two things about that. The first one being that if he tried to convince himself of that, he would be straight faced lying to himself, and the second being that he would only be substantiating Grimalkin's claims, and though his pride in face of his cousin was not a key issue in the current problem, it was by no means nonexistent.

He did not want to lose face in front of Grimalkin, but not because his cousin would never let him live down that he had been wrong. The reason he did not want Grimalkin to win out was because that would be trading the truth of how he felt for Catherine for a lie that no one but Grimalkin would benefit from. True, Demon wasn't altogether sure how _he _benefited from the newly discovered truth, but he was also quite certain he would not thank himself if he sat here trying to tell a lie…Grimalkin might be content lying to himself, even without realizing that was what he was doing, but Demon was not. Not to mention Demon would not be able to tell a lie to save his life, so why even contemplate trying?

"Well done, Demon," he sighed, finally dropping his hands away from his eyes, gazing down at the floor, watching the sole flame cast intricate shadows on the polished wood beneath his feet, "You have finally outdone yourself… They called you strange for the longest time, but I do not quite think that even begins to explain the extent of just how well you live up to your oddness… First Cait Sith to befriend a human…first Cait Sith to protect a human…first Cait Sith to fall in love with a human…"

_Half human_, his mind corrected automatically, but he ignored it. If he put it like that, it just made it even odder than before. Especially considering that said half human was half Cait Sith, a combination that had never been heard of in all the millennia that cats had walked the earth. Not even the progenitors had gone to such lengths, though they easily could have if they had wanted to. Any cat could take on a human companion and produce a child, but no one had, at least not until Catherine's father. Though that gave Demon reason to pause and wonder on his last declaration: First Cait Sith to fall in love with a human… He wondered about the truth of that. Catherine's father could have been in love with her mother, if Demon was now learning that the idea that a Cait Sith could not love was just a piece of bogus mumbo jumbo. It was entirely possible that he was not the first to love a human, though if anyone decided to go making a record about a Cait Sith being in love he had a suspicion it would start with him.

No one was likely to recognize the supposed "love" between a Cait Sith and a human that had ended with a child of two worlds. But it sure made a great story for a Cait Sith to be in love with that child of two worlds. Because who wanted a regular forbidden love story anyway?

He snorted derisively, raking his hands through his silver hair and pushing himself to his feet, feeling fatigue beginning to beat on him with an intensity that rivaled being trodden on by a wyvern. He needed to sleep, he knew it, because sitting up all night thinking over this was not going to make him feel any better or any less anxious about everything now that he'd uncovered yet _another _great concern that would probably take up a great amount of his focus. It had been enough knowing that Catherine was ill, and injured, and then discovering she was, in fact, in love with Sage, as he had suspected before, but now, as though that wasn't enough, he had just learned he was…well… As he'd said, the less he thought about it, the better off he would be for now.

Giving a small sigh, he turned slowly to face the bed, his eyes immediately landing on Catherine's sleeping form, sprawled out among the blankets, her face serene, for once, as she drifted in slumber. What he would not give for her to manage to look like that when she was awake, but he had not seen such peace on her face since the time he had known her in the mortal realm, before she had moved away to attend her college. Before then, she had looked much more carefree, much happier, but since that change, that shift that had been forcing her to admit she was no longer a child, she had lost a great deal of that carefree, light heartedness. And since arriving in the Nevernever, encountering all the things that she had, suffering through red cap attacks, the fury of a faery queen and her vindictive sons, that light hearted girl he had once known had gone even further away. He had said before he was glad she had not changed, and in his mind she hadn't. At least, this particular change had not been solely due to the fact that she had been brought to the Nevernever like this, though that had certainly had an impact.

No… She was still very much the same girl in many other ways, but he missed being able to see her smile. _Really _smile, as she had when he had first seen her. She had been a girl who took pleasure in simple things then, who had been happy just to see him sitting on the front porch of her home, waiting to visit with her. He wondered if she was still that person… Or if such things weren't of any interest to her anymore. He hadn't really stopped to think on it before now. There had been too many other important things to consider. He wondered if it was possible to find out, though, if there was still a trace of that girl left. A girl who delighted in dew covered roses in the morning, watching the sun rise and set, picking shapes out of the clouds overhead, or reading a book in the warmth of the afternoon sun as he sat beside her, her constant companion. He wanted to know…

Ah, wait…He _did _know… Hadn't he just discovered a while ago that she still enjoyed the simple things? Like being sung a lullaby? Hadn't she sat there and told him he had a beautiful singing voice? That he sung the lullaby just fine? He doubted she would have bothered to make note of such things if she didn't really enjoy it… So, even if just a little bit, that girl was still there, she was just hidden from him for now, lost in a sea of anger and pain caused by others around her. Well, he thought, slowly settling himself on the edge of the bed, gazing down at her slumbering face, even if it took him a millennia, he would find her again. He had not come this far to lose her now…especially not to a Winter Prince.

Sighing softly, he took a moment aside from his weightier thoughts, instead focusing on getting himself settled on the bed. He was tired, and sitting up much longer contemplating everything he was would undoubtedly end with an unwelcome migraine, and he would rather avoid the next morning harboring such. Especially when he suspected that it would only result in either Nicolette or Trinity both telling him that was what he got for hassling them about making sure they got enough rest for the next day's adventures. So with every intention of putting himself to sleep, he rolled carefully into the bed, lying on his side, and curled his large frame around Catherine, one arm settling across her small waist. Pressing his face into her hair, reveling in the faint aroma of roses that seemed to be coming from the copper tresses, he closed his eyes tightly, blocking out everything else, taking a quick second to extinguish the single candle on the nightstand so that they were once again plunged into darkness.

Shifting to get more comfortable on the bed, gently pulling the blankets up over himself and Catherine both, he breathed a short sigh as he nestled beside her, noting there was not nearly as much space as he had become used to with the bed in Arcadia. Ah, well, he thought in resignation, not every place could be as high class as Oberon's castle, especially a forest hideout in the middle of the wyldwood.

Coiling his arms a little more tightly around Catherine, feeling her shift just the tiniest bit in his grip in response, he pushed all other thought from his mind, willing everything away, except the welcoming darkness of sleep. There would be time from now on to think over everything else, but now was not that time. Starting tomorrow, they would have many more things to worry about, like getting through New York in one piece, or at least in such a condition that they could put themselves back together afterwards. But for now, he did not want to think about New York, or the Briars—they're current goal—and what might await them there. He did not want to think about Rowan, or Sage, or Mab, or anyone in the entire Unseelie Court. He did not want to think about how, from now, his feelings were undoubtedly going to be a constant trouble that he would have to do his utmost best to keep under wraps—something he was not used to doing in the first place. And, more than all of that, he did not want to think about how—when all was said and done—it may all be for nothing in the end, and that Catherine might very well just leave the Nevernever.

He did not want to think of any of those things… He just wanted to sleep. And so he willed himself to, forcibly pushing all other thoughts from his mind, letting the darkness settle in around him, quiet and absolute. Cradling Catherine in his arms, inhaling the subtle rose fragrance of her hair, he only focused on that and the darkness, and it was not long until the darkness won out over everything else, closing in over him, and pulling him under, forcing him to leave everything else behind, and simply drift in slumber, waiting for the morning to come.


End file.
